THERE was a packed cinema on Thursday night in Dublin for the Irish premiere of the movie Ride Like A Girl.

Held at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield, the event was hosted by the Australian Ambassador to Ireland, The Honourable Gary Grey, and his wife Pippa, herself a great fan of racing. Supported by Harvey Norman, the evening also highlighted the work of the charity Child Vision and the work they do with equine assistance.

The guest list was a mix of familiar faces from the equine and equestrian worlds, Australian citizens living in Ireland, and friends of the hosts and sponsors. What was the post-screening reaction? It was a case of a major thumbs up.

Our own Leo Powell was one of the evening’s guests, and he told the column of his reaction. “If I am honest, I was apprehensive ahead of the movie. In general, films about horse racing are not well made, but this was a glorious exception. The casting of Teresa Palmer as Michelle Payne, Sam Neill as her father, and Stevie Payne playing himself was inspired. At times it was hard to differentiate between the real scenes from archive footage, and the staged events.”

This is the story of Michelle Payne, the first woman to ride a Melbourne Cup winner. She was successful in 2015 on Prince Of Penzance and the story of her life, upbringing, fight against the odds to get rides, and her ultimate success is told in a way that is inspiring. No less an inspiration, and a star of the film, is her brother Stevie. He continues to work today as a strapper (or a groom).

The film Ride Like A Girl starts and ends with documentary footage, which initially shows Payne as a small girl saying she wants to win the Melbourne Cup, and at the end winning the ‘race that stops a nation’. In her memorable victory speech, which was televised live across Australia, she told all the people along the way who had said she couldn’t do it, to “get stuffed”.

Guests on Thursday night included Robert and Lucinda Hall, Valerie Osborne, Clodagh Kavanagh, Bill Farrell, Pierce Dargan, Paddy Dunican and Brian Mangan. Ride Like A Girl is available to view online.

Childvision.ie