sa horseracing convention road to the future glory - PARADE ...

“I have settled well and am very happy,” Payne says. “Things are coming
right and I’m greatly looking forward to 2004.”
Things are indeed “coming right”. In spite of having only 25 boxes at
Royal Randwick, Payne has managed a steady fl ow of winners. By 27
October he had sent out 200 runners for 23 fi rsts, 23 seconds and 16
thirds. His winning strike rate of 12% is excellent, given the challenges
of starting afresh and working in a highly competitive environment.
Payne is a trailblazer. The man who won the 1968 July aboard Chimboraa
(33–1) and then, at 24, became the youngest trainer of a July winner
(In Full Flight), felt he had the energy and determination to start again in
Australia at 54. He has proved more than equal to the challenge.
Payne has done well since the “off”. His fi rst 24 runners yielded three
winners and he has maintained that strike rate since.
The highlight of Payne’s new career so far has been the Group 1 win
recorded by Unearthly, a Zabeel fi lly, in the Flight Stakes over 1 600 m
at Randwick at the beginning of October.
Paying Aus$9,50, Unearthly raced in touch in a true-run race, and came
catapulting out the pack with 200 m to run to beat Santissima by 2,25
lengths.
“This is a fantastic thrill,” Payne commented afterwards. “This fi lly
showed potential early and today she has confi rmed it.”
There have been other thrills, too. As with Unearthly, Payne has had
three wins with talented mare Miss Helterskelter, a consistent type
who always gives of her best. Her win in the $70 000 Breeders Classic
over 1 200 m at Randwick on 22 February was Payne’s fi rst big win in
Australia.
Former SA champion fi lly Hoeberg also had her moments. Most signifi
cantly, she fi nished a highly creditable second in the Group 2 Apollo
Stakes (1 400 m) at Randwick, only 3,25 lengths behind Australia’s best
racehorse Lonhro.
Payne only took a skeleton string to Melbourne for the recent spring
carnival. He achieved a very good result, however, when fi lly Grandly,
co-owned by Wayne Aldridge and his wife, Sue, and SA’s Chapman
brothers, ran a strong fourth in the VRC Oaks over 2 500 m at Flemington
in front of a crowd of 101 179.
Most recently, Payne notched up his seventh winner for 2003-2004
when six-year-old gelding Scenic Boom returned from a layoff to win
over 1 600 m at Randwick in the Coldstream Hills Handicap. Payne’s
charge landed a mini coup after being backed in from $17 to $10.
There have been disappointments too, none tougher than the forced retirement
of fi ve-year-old gelding Carnegie Express, a runner with hoof
problems that Payne had patiently brought back to form.
Starting favourite in the $560 000 Metropolitan over 2 400 m at Randwick,
Carnegie Express injured a suspensory ligament and had to be
retired. Prior to his fi nal track appearance, he had run a close third in the
Hill Stakes (Group 2) over 1 900 m at Rosehill.
Carnegie Express was Payne’s Melbourne Cup hope. His loss was hard
DAVID PAYNE.
to take, but there’s a three-year-old gelding in the yard that is making
Payne think big again. His name is Dante’s Paradiso and he’s won two
out of three starts for the South African. “I rate him a Derby prospect,”
Payne said.
The other three-year-old Payne reckons we should look out for is Flying
Anabaa, who has yet to race for the yard.
With Unearthly and Grandly shaping up as Oaks prospects, Payne has
a lot to look forward to come autumn in Sydney and his yearly tally of
winners will grow as he gets more boxes.
“There is no reason why the yard shouldn’t reach 40 to 50 winners a
season,” says Aldridge, stable patron and a bloodstock agent.
David Leslie Payne has already moved mountains by coming to Australia
and reeling off feature-race winners. A training legend in one
country, he could well achieve the same status in his adopted home.
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