There’s something wrong with this picture of Michelle Payne . The champion jockey should be holding the Melbourne Cup aloft, not posing beside it in a sunny dress and straw boater hat.

Instead of grasping the trophy, Payne is struggling to decide where to put her hands and how to adjust her legs, with the assistance of stylist Alicia Marshall, hovering out of frame with a comb and lint brush at the ready.

“I met Michelle when she didn’t really have her own style,” says Marshall. “I have tried to take her on a journey to discover it.”

It has been 10 years since Payne’s memorable win in the Melbourne Cup with Prince of Penzance and she’s determined to master her new role as an ambassador for the Victoria Racing Club, and the dress diplomacy required for the fashion side of racing. Eve

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