AAPīy the time the film lets rip in its final quarter – incorporating real footage of Payne’s win – the audience was in raptures. Griffiths and Payne at the world premiere of Ride Like A Girl in Melbourne. Cue hopeful whinnies, thundering hooves and feisty heroine antics. The pace picks up when Payne (played by Teresa Palmer) sets about cracking the male-dominated racing industry from the age of 15. The movie opens with Payne’s tough start she is the youngest of 10 children raised by their father after their mother died in a car accident, when Payne was six months old.

No doubt their parents will faint if any of them actually do become jockeys, but they were there for the celluloid ride, along with a few old timers like me. Hard to argue with that.Įvery third seat was occupied by a girl with a ponytail. Australia had the Lady Bushranger rogue in skirts, Jessie Hickman, who was our national champion female roughrider in the early 1900s.Īdding to this roll call is actor Rachel Griffiths' engaging directorial debut Ride Like a Girl, about jockey Michelle Payne becoming the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup, which opens on September 26.īefore a preview screening in Sydney, Payne and Griffiths appeared on stage to address the 700-strong sellout crowd about how important it is that girls are inspired to do anything they want. Sharpshooter Annie Oakley cut the perfect cowgirl figure in the United States – and rode a trusty steed named Target – in the eponymous 1960s television series. In France, Joan of Arc and her fine white Percheron embodied 1400s pious purity meets fierce warrior spirit. Strong woman and horse combinations have been a symbol of female empowerment since Roman times, from fiery British Celtic warrior Queen Boudica and her bare-breasted daughters on their horse-drawn chariot to Queen Elizabeth II. Suffice to say, “girl meets horse – horse runs extra-fast for girl” is a genre I know well and one which has enduring appeal.Įlizabeth Taylor with her equine co-star in National Velvet.

Having spent much of my childhood at pony club, I've long binged on four-legged films, from National Velvet (1944) to The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Secretariat (2010).

When the cry went out a few weeks back for someone to cover the latest racing flick to hit the big screen, as the office horse tragic, I was the obvious choice.

Life As I Know It by Michelle Payne