Of all the stories told about racing patriarch Paddy Payne, few better encapsulated the loving, chaotic nature of his life than the day he dropped off youngest daughter Michelle for her first day of secondary school.
asserted
he → tell → school
It was one of his forgetful moments – a memory lapse that could be brought on by running farms, training horses and raising 10 rowdy kids.
uncertain
that → bring → kids
A moment that would happen almost 30 years before his peaceful death at home on Tuesday at the age of 90.
asserted
that → happen → 90
The year was 1998, and Michelle, not long turned 13, was following in her sisters’ footsteps.
asserted
Michelle → turn → footsteps
They, too, had gone to Ballarat’s Loreto College.
asserted
They → go → College
But soon after her father drove in from Miners Rest and dropped her at the school gates, Michelle was hit by a confronting reality: no one could find her name on the classroom lists.
uncertain
one → drive → lists
Confused, she went to the front office with a friend.
asserted
she → go → friend
There she was told she hadn’t been enrolled.
asserted
she → tell → ?
“I started to get a bit sad and was nearly crying, and they’re like, ‘don’t cry, it’s okay.
asserted
it → start → ?
We’ll call your dad’,” Michelle told The Age last year.
asserted
Michelle → call → Age
“And they ring dad, who is home by this stage after dropping us off, and they said, ‘Oh, we’re just here with your daughter, Mr Payne, we just have a problem: You haven’t enrolled her’.
asserted
You → ring → her
“And he was like, ‘Ah, haven’t I?’ Because I could hear him.
uncertain
I → have → him
He’s always louder over the phone speaker.
asserted
He → ’ → speaker
And he goes, ‘Oh, sorry about that’.
asserted
he → go → that
“They’re like, ‘Oh, that’s alright.
asserted
that → ’re → ?
We’ll try and find her a spot’.
asserted
We → try → spot
So they found me a classroom.
asserted
they → find → classroom
Thank God they understood, you know, because he was doing his best – a single parent raising 10 kids.”
asserted
he → thank → kids
Born in Hawera in South Taranaki, New Zealand, Payne’s best turned out to be pretty good.
asserted
Payne → bear → Taranaki
His life was upended in 1986 when his wife, Mary, was killed in a car accident near Ballarat.
asserted
wife → upend → Ballarat
But the patriarch wanted to keep the family together and decided to raise the children on his own.
“My dad always talked about her to me, always told me what a beautiful lady she was,” Michelle recalled in an interview when she was 24.
“It was probably hard for the older kids who remembered her to talk about her.
asserted
who → want → her
They had their memories they kept to themselves.
asserted
they → have → themselves
Dad used to tell me every day how lucky he was.
asserted
he → use → me
I think it was good for him to get it out, but it was good for me too.”
asserted
it → think → me
Under Payne’s guidance, the family would go on to leave an indelible mark on the sport of racing.
asserted
family → go → racing
Eight of the 10 kids would become jockeys – Brigid, Bernadette, Therese, Patrick, Andrew, Maree, Cathy and Michelle.
asserted
kids → become → ?
Only Margaret and Stevie would not ride in a race.
asserted
Margaret → ride → race
Patrick, Andrew and Michelle would later become trainers like their father.
asserted
Patrick → become → father
“He passed away peacefully in his sleep, early this morning at home, he got to have his dying wish,” daughter Therese said in a family statement on Thursday.
asserted
Therese → pass → Thursday
“We feel he had a great life, and we were happy he was comfortable.
asserted
he → feel → life
We hope he’s joined our mum and brother and sisters.”
asserted
he → hope → mum
The Paynes lost son Michael in 1985, three days after he was born.
asserted
he → lose → 1985
Eldest sister Brigid died in 2007 from a heart attack, six months after a bad track work fall, while the family lost second-eldest daughter Bernadette in March last year.
Mercifully, there were high points in between.
asserted
family → die → between
Patrick Jr won the 2002 Cox Plate on Northerly and Michelle would create history by becoming the first woman to ride the winner of the Melbourne Cup in 2015.
asserted
Michelle → win → 2015
Michelle’s trailblazing exploits would be captured in the film Ride Like a Girl.
asserted
exploits → capture → Girl
Her father was portrayed by the late, great Kiwi actor Sam Neill, while his youngest son Stevie would play himself, the strapper of Prince Of Penzance.
asserted
son → portray → Penzance
Michelle rode her first winner as a 15-year-old on her father’s horse Reigning in front of her cheering schoolmates at Ballarat.
asserted
Michelle → ride → Ballarat
Soon after the victory, her father suggested she chuck it in and go back to school.
uncertain
she → suggest → school
“For the first six months, Dad was saying, ‘You just don’t seem to have it.
asserted
You → say → it
All the other kids showed a little bit of potential...’,” Michelle said.
asserted
Michelle → show → potential
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
