By Jordan Gerrans
A heart attack suffered in the Sunshine State has brought a trailblazing female rider out of retirement and it has not taken long for her to land back in the winners’ enclosure.
Gaye Gauci-Marchant prepared her first victory as a trainer in almost a decade on Sunday at Murwillumbah as she travelled south from her Gold Coast base with galloper Champagnes On Me.
The racing caper has taken Gauci-Marchant all over the globe.
She most recently trained out of Wangaratta in country Victoria before having her last starter in a race in the back end of 2015.
Gaye goes by the surname of Gauci-Marchant these days but she made her name in the game as Gaye Mullins when she became one of Australia’s first female riders.
Queensland’s Pam O’Neill become the nation’s first female jockey back in 1979.
Not long after, Gaye became the first female apprentice to ride in a race through the Victorian system.
After a career in the saddle, Gaye eventually made her way into training.
In 2022, Gaye and her husband Ernie Marchant – a former jockey himself as well – sold up their property in regional Victoria, stepped away from racing all together, and purchased a caravan and headed off throughout Australia.
That was until they lobbed at Jacobs Well in Queensland.
“We got that far and I had a heart attack,” she said.
“And, after that, I said to Ernie that I wasn’t going to die doing nothing so we decided to get back into racing.