Actor Rachel Griffiths thinks young people could learn a lot from the head-down, hard-working life that led jockey Michelle Payne to be a Melbourne Cup-winning champion.
Griffiths watched Payne win the 2015 “race that stops the nation” with her two daughters, aged six and 11, and was inspired by the reaction the jockey’s effort sparked in the two girls.
“Watching the Melbourne Cup with my daughters and seeing how incredibly excited they were and engaged when Michelle won the Cup, it kind of opened their eyes up a bit,” Griffiths told AAP at Rosehill Racecourse on Saturday, where she was an ambassador for the $3.5 million Golden Slipper.
Griffiths’ new connection to racing is that she has embarked on making a film about Payne’s life.
“It was just one of those moments that showed them that girls can do anything and it was incredibly positive,” Griffiths said of the female jockey’s amazing Cup ride.
Griffiths said the real attraction of Payne’s story is that it’s not glamorous, or a story about celebrity.
“It’s about incredibly hard work, getting up early, taking risks,” she said.
“I think we live in a world where a lot of young people are very anxious, they are afraid of taking risks and very self-conscious about appearance and how they’re viewed.
“I think there’s something that’s so old-school about a jockey’s life that’s so head-down, grindstone and work ethic, and literally taking the falls and getting back on the horse.”
Griffiths said the film would be a while coming yet, with two top scriptwriters retained but no script in existence yet.
Casting jockeys is another challenge yet to be tackled.
“It’s too soon for that. You have your dream list – I’m getting everyone’s heights at the moment,” she said.
