Michelle Payne with the Melbourne Cup in Rochester.
Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne hasn’t forgotten the farming community she grew up in.
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Michelle recently returned to Rochester to join the Melbourne Cup rural tour and met with Rochester Pony Club members.
Michelle grew up on a Rochester dairy farm.
Michelle said it was special to return to Rochester as part of the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour.
“It is heart-warming to return to Rochester where I grew up on a dairy farm and reconnect with a community that I know and love,” she said.
“The events have been wonderful, and I enjoy being part of the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour, which aims to give back to communities like Rochester who have experienced hardship with the recent flooding.
“It was heartbreaking to see what they went through so I’m just so happy to be here today to see how the town has rebuilt.”
Eleanor Bourchier, 6, with jockey Jamie Kah and the Melbourne Cup at the Nathalia Show.
Michelle, who rode Prince of Penzance to victory in the 2015 Cup, visited the Rochester Pony Club where members were invited to bring their horse and have their photo taken with the Cup before Payne participated in a Q&A reflecting on her career and love of riding.
Students from the Rochester Pony Club dressed in jockey colours then paraded on to Windridge Oval alongside Michelle holding the Lexus Melbourne Cup.
The community enjoyed an afternoon filled with family-friendly activities, including a petting zoo, a jumping castle and having their photo taken with Michelle and the coveted trophy.
Rochester and Nathalia will be part of the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour National Sweep, an important VRC charity initiative that sees 24 rural and regional towns allocated a barrier and the correlating runner in the 2024 Lexus Melbourne Cup.
Two representatives from each of the 24 destinations will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Flemington, courtesy of the VRC, to watch the Lexus Melbourne Cup and cheer home their horse. The town with the winning horse will be presented with $50,000 to put towards a charity of its choice.
Floyd Foster with the Melbourne Cup at the Nathalia Show.
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