Michelle Payne ready to roll at Royal Ascot

Payne hit the headlines after becoming the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup when steering Prince Of Penzance to Flemington glory in November 2015.

Prince Of Penzance was led up by Payne's brother, Stevie, who has Down's syndrome, and the winning rider told those who doubted her abilities in the saddle to "get stuffed" afterwards.

Her intended appearance at Ascot's Shergar Cup the following summer was curtailed by career-threatening injuries suffered in a fall last May, but she is now back at the top of her game and belatedly gets the chance to show off her skills in Berkshire aboard Jane Chapple-Hyam's Kaspersky in the opening race of the Royal meeting, the Queen Anne Stakes.

Our reporter Graham Clark caught up with Michelle in Newmarket over the weekend to chat about her historic success, the film that is being made about her life and her hopes and dreams for the future.

Are you surprised by the level of interest in your appearance at this year's Royal meeting has attracted?

It is pretty surprising. Obviously I've experienced a lot of media attention back home since the Melbourne Cup, which continues to be as strong as ever, and now again here and in America when I was there for the awards.

It is much more than I thought I would receive, but the Melbourne Cup is the race that can change your life and it has changed mine in every way.

I had ridden four Group One winners and five Group Two winners before the Melbourne Cup, but winning the Melbourne Cup took me to a new level.

It is the race that stops the nation. There are a handful of feature races in Australia take you to that level and that is the main one.

Do you have any regrets about remarks after your Melbourne success?

I'm happy with what I said. It was off the cuff but I don't regret it. It felt the right time to stand up for female jockeys.

We do get put down a lot and we are taken off the rides when it comes to the better races.

I've been fortunate in my career not to suffer that too much but there are so many other girls that do. Having been successful in Group One races, I still cop a bit of flak off some trainers.

Do you think your success has helped other female riders both at home and around the world?

It definitely helped things, but it hasn't improved it out of sight where you'd go, 'Woah, it's made a huge difference'.

It is still very hard for female jockeys, but I think it opened people's eyes and made a lot of people both inside and outside of racing realise that we can compete with the boys at the top level.

I think it put a positive spin on things, but I wouldn't say it means that someone will now go and book a female rider.

Although there might be some cases where it happened, I still feel there's a long way to go.

Australian actress Rachel Griffiths is making a film about your historic Melbourne Cup success. That must be exciting?

Who would have thought in a million years that you would have a movie being made about you?

I am excited about it. It is not so much focusing on racing. Obviously that is my career but it is also about family and overcoming tragedy and sticking together.

I guess Rachel approached me about the film because she has daughters and she saw an inspirational story for girls coming from not an easy background.

It hasn't always been plain-sailing in mine and my family's life and they were very keen to make a movie that can be inspirational to anybody with a dream not to give up.

I've read the script and it is a lovely script. I'm very happy with who we have directing and producing it.

There are a few things I would like them to modify a little bit. I think the main thing is I didn't want to upset anybody, especially my family, but obviously it's a movie and there will be bits dramatised.

Having your brother Stevie play a part in your Melbourne Cup success must have made it all the more special.

We were the youngest two together growing up as kids but we still obviously argue and don't always get on as best buddies, but that is part of being brother and sister.

To have him working with me now is so good. He is great to have around and always makes you laugh.

We have always been grateful to Darren Weir (trainer of Prince Of Penzance) for treating him like normal. He has given him a job where there is a lot of money at stake.

It shows other people what people with Down's syndrome what they can do if you give them the chance. It takes somebody a fair bit of courage to allow that.

Stevie is fairly excited about the movie as well as he plays a fairly big role.

You already hold a training licence, with Kaspersky set to join your team in Australia later this year. You must be looking forward to the next chapter in your career?

Training is something I have been planning for a few years now. I was out here eight years ago working for Jane Chapple-Hyam and Luca Cumani and I went over to work for Aidan O'Brien and a few trainers in France, including Criquette Head-Maarek.

My plan for a few years has been to work for as many trainer as I could and get as many ideas as I could as there is no one way of training a racehorse.

It's really interesting to see so many successful trainers train their horses so differently. I love the way things are done here, I wish we could do it this way back home.

My training set up is on a farm and it is more similar to UK training than Australian training.

How long do you plan on continuing to ride for?

I wouldn't say I will ride for a lot longer, maybe until the end of next year, but we will see how it goes along.

I'm really enjoying what I'm doing at the moment. I have a small team and I'm riding all my own horses in track work and in races.

I've had great support from a lot of owners and a lot of people have already supported me buying nice horses, which is down to a lifetime of building relationships and working hard.

I find it so important to do the right thing by everybody as much as you can and it has put me in a good position now.

Realistically, how do you rate the chances of Kaspersky on Tuesday?

Gay Kelleway had found the horse for Jane Chapple-Hyam as possibly a horse to run at Royal Ascot, then maybe Deauville and then Australia for what was our Emirates Stakes.

Jane approached me with the horse and I had some owners that were keen to become involved and here we are. It is very exciting. The team are going well so who knows what will happen?

He is obviously not fancied but he is a quality galloper. He has proved that in his wins.

When I have ridden him here he impresses me every time. Group One horses, they have that bit of quality and X-factor about them and he certainly has that.

How would it feel to ride or even train a winner at Royal Ascot?

I wouldn't have dreamed of riding at Royal Ascot becoming possible. You wouldn't knock it back but I wouldn't know where to start to get a ride.

Obviously the Melbourne Cup is our Holy Grail in Australia and it has been my dream to win that since I was five years old, so it would be pretty hard to top it, but a win at Royal Ascot would be right up there.

Everybody strives to be the best and compete in the best races, so to bring a horse out here (as a trainer), that is possibly as good as it gets.

That will definitely be on the bucket list.

Michelle Payne on...

...the build-up to the Royal meeting

"I'm not feeling any pressure, I'm just making sure I can go there as prepared as I can be. I am actually very excited. It is like the Spring Carnival back home as there is that special feeling in the air in the couple of weeks leading up to it. I'm very pleased about being out here early and having got to ride the horse because for me it is important to form a relationship with them. I couldn't be happier with how he responds to me and how we get on."

...her future aspirations

"I've always really wanted to ride in America as I think that would be a great thrill – and Hong Kong, also. My favourite race in Australia apart from the Melbourne Cup is the Cox Plate. The atmosphere is like nothing else. I've not had a ride in yet. I've been close a couple of times they have either been scratched or didn't make the field – that would be something special."

...bouncing back from a serious abdominal injury last year

"It's funny to look back at the injury now I am about to ride at Royal Ascot as I spent many nights in bed in hospital wondering whether I should return to racing or not. It was the first time in my life I considered retiring. Usually I would know that I would be straight back, but this time was different. It's funny to be thinking back that it could have gone either way and if I had decided to retire, I wouldn't be out here experiencing this. I was probably being swayed by my family to retire as I have had some bad injuries and I had won the Melbourne Cup and they said, 'What more do you want to achieve?'. That was swaying me. It was a very scary time when I was in there as we didn't know how I would recover from the surgery and if there would be complications. Jockey wise, I've never seen anybody have that sort of injury. That is what made me take a step back and not make a decision straight away, to play it out and see what happened. Being stood on by a 500kg horse, another inch or few centimetres it could have killed me, but that is life, sometimes you are lucky."

...on turning down Dancing with the Stars

"I was asked to be on Dancing with the Stars which I would have loved to have done, but I'm not a great dancer and it would be too time consuming. There have been a few offers to go on television, but I am a bit shy and not one to put on a show. I feel I would bore people to death if I was on a television show. I think I will leave other people to that. I've grown a lot in confidence since the Melbourne Cup. I was always a bit shy and didn't speak well on television, but having the practice and building the confidence that way has helped. But I wouldn't be one to put myself out there and be on some sort of programme, I would be too reserved and I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself."

...on her life and loves away from racing

"I love working on my farm, being out there and being part of nature. I also love travelling. Each year I try get away in the winter and go somewhere new. I think there is so much of the world to see and so many people to meet so why stay in one place? There are lots of places I love. My mum was Swiss so I love Switzerland. I did sail Croatia a few years ago which was nice. I loved America, going to Las Vegas and San Diego, and also going to Mexico. There have been times I have gone on my own and times I have gone with friends, it just depends who is going where. One time, me and a friend went to Rwanda and worked in an orphanage there. It was something very different and a great experience."