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Michelle Payne EXCLUSIVE: “There’s no reason I won’t race again”

Michelle Payne, the first woman jockey to win a Melbourne Cup race, is climbing back into the saddle following a life-threatening fall from a horse in May.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian Women’s Weekly, out today, Michelle Payne for the first time gives full details on her medical crisis following a race fall in May, and her triumphant return to the track.

“I don’t feel scared at all. I ‘ve never hopped on a horse thinking ‘what if’,” Michelle, whose sister Brigid died following a similar race fall in 2007.

“There’s no reason I won’t race again.”

And Michelle even has the qualified support of her father, veteran horse trainer Paddy Payne. “She has nothing left to prove to anyone but it’s her call and if she wants to ride on , then we’ll be happy with that. …If she’s up to it – which she is – then she’ll be fine.”

And in the story, Michelle finally opens up about the immediate aftermath of her fall.

“The first three or four days, I had the worst pain of my life,” she tells The Weekly.

You can read Michelle Payne’s full interview in in the September issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, on sale August 4.

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