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Celine Gaudray still remembers walking up trainer Pat Carey’s driveway with her dad 10 years ago to see whether he might have a part-time job for her in the stable.

Somewhere in the back of Gaudray’s teenage mind was an idea – she wanted to become a jockey.

The sports-loving kid developed a love for horses when she turned 13 and began show jumping.

But horse racing? That was a different world.

“I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to horses. Even though I grew up on a farm, I didn’t take a lot of interest, but I started to get into it at 13 when my dad bought me my first pony,” Gaudray said.

“It has turned into a drug now.”

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Today, just five years after her first race ride in a maiden at Moe in June 2020, she will ride in her first Melbourne Cup aboard the Paul Preusker-trained Torranzino.

This time last year, she was out for three months after suffering a back fracture and knee injury in her fourth race ride, but got back on the horse, literally, when she rode her first winner on the Carey-trained Tippitywichit at Traralgon.

Read more about what makes Celine Gaudray tick here.