Melbourne Cup: Michelle Payne tells chauvinists to get stuffed

Jockey Michelle Payne ensured that the Melbourne Cup really was the race that stopped a nation this year as she became the first woman to win the biggest contest of the Australian racing season and did so on 100-1 shot Prince of Penzance.

Not only did Payne see off the challenge of Frankie Dettori on Max Dynamite in a thrilling finish, she then aimed a few choice words at those who objected to the idea of a woman taking part.

"It's such a chauvinistic sport, I know some of the owners wanted to kick me off," said Payne, who was only the fourth woman to take part in the showpiece event, held at Flemington Racecourse.

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She offered thanks to Prince of Penzance's trainer Darren Weir and owner John Richards, and added: "I want to say to everyone else, get stuffed, because women can do anything and we can beat the world."

The win will propel Payne "from 'good jockey' to 'national celebrity' and one of the most famous sportswomen around", says BBC racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght.

Seeing off Dettori in the closing stages only adds to the achievement, which will go down as "a red-letter day for the once oh-so-macho world of Aussie sport".

To make matters worse for Dettori, he was fined A$20,000 (£9,200) and banned for a month for careless riding as he sought to get a decent line on the home straight.

Add to the mix the fact the Pride of Penzance cost a mere A$50,000 (£23,000) and was "trained on the beaches around Warrnambool by Darren Weir, a Victorian bushie from Berriwillock" and you have a plot that it "too far-fetched" event for Hollywood, says Max Presnell in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The story is akin to that of National Velvet, the film in which Elizabeth Taylor rides her pet horse to victory in the Grand National.

"But when Michelle Payne applied the lip gloss after the win and before the press conference even the screen great Taylor couldn't have done it better," writes Presnell.

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