Who is Michelle Payne and why is ITV Racing’s Royal Ascot star – one of TEN siblings – known as ‘Stink’?

ITV Racing is being lit up by the presence of Michelle Payne during Royal Ascot.

The legendary Australian rider became a household name Down Under when she won the 2015 Melbourne Cup on a 100-1 outsider.

But her incredible back story – and her bizarre nickname “Stink” – will probably be new to British punters.

Here, Sun Racing tells you all you need to know about Michelle Payne.

Who is Michelle Payne?

Michelle Payne is a trailblazing Australian jockey who became a superstar of the sport when she won the Melbourne Cup eight years ago.

She was victorious on 100-1 longshot Prince Of Penzance.

Born on September 29, 1985, Payne remains the only woman jockey to have won the “race that stops a nation”.

She grew up on a farm near Ballarat in Victoria, Australia, and is the youngest of ten children.

Her nine siblings are Stevie, who helps groom her horses, Cathy, Patrick, Maree, Michael, Therese, Bernadette, Margaret, Andrew, and sister Brigid who died in 2007 at the age of 36.

Tragedy hit her life early when her mum Mary died in a car crash when Payne was just six months old.

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By the time she was seven Payne was telling anyone who would listen that she would win Australia’s biggest race.

She won her first Group One in 2009 – five years after a horrific fall in which she fractured her skull and suffered bruising to her brain.

Payne – who will be an expert on ITV‘s coverage of Ascot on Thursday, June 22, 2023 – had three big wins aboard Yosei before her Melbourne miracle in 2015.

In 2019, film Ride Like a Girl was made about her win.

She continues to race to this day but has suggested her time in the saddle could be coming to an end in 2024.

Why is she called ‘Stink?’

Payne’s nickname is “Stink”.

One of her elder brothers Patrick called her by the moniker after she won the Cup.

He explained she got the name from her siblings because she was “really cute and good at school”.

Speaking of his sister’s new-found fame in 2015, he continued the sledging.

Patrick, also a jockey, said: “It’s unbelievable, especially after watching Michelle play sports at school.

“She was a like a baby elephant, she just had no skills whatsoever, but she learned to ride really well and kudos to her being able to do so well despite not being a natural athlete.”

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