A rousing first-up performance from Gallant Tess has trainer David Payne eyeing off Saturday's $1 million Golden Rose at Rosehill. The former champion South African trainer will start Stripper, Baci Amore and Emperor Bonaparte in the richest race of the Sydney spring.
"Stripper is my pick, she has drawn better than the other two, too," Payne said this week. "But when you're a trainer and you pick one, it is always the wrong one. You know that."
The Melbourne-bound mare Gallant Tess returned in last Saturday's Warwick Stakes at Warwick Farm and made the state's premier galloper, Racing To Win, work hard for victory.
"Stripper hasn't had a race leading into the Golden Rose, she has trialled a couple of times," Payne said. "She has had the same prep as Gallant Tess and you saw Gallant Tess last Saturday.
"She has been Gallant Tess's stable companion in the preps [track gallops], she has done enough work to win."
Payne set up operations at Randwick after arriving in the Harbour City six years ago and one of the first owners to give him a horse was Baci Amore's breeder Baden Brown.
"We won the Black Opal Stakes with Uber and he has been with me ever since," Payne said. "A really lovely bloke. He and Geraldine Freedman own the mare. They put this fellow [Baci Amore] into the sale ring, couldn't get the reserve so they gave him to me."
Payne declared Baci Amore "very unlucky" when finishing a length off Gold Rose equal favourite Desuetude in the Run To The Rose at Rosehill a fortnight ago. "He raced wide and was giving them weight," Payne said. "It was an excellent run."
Payne is no longer at the Australian Jockey Club-owned Randwick for the trainer was promised plenty but given little. With the move out of headquarters for World Youth Day, Payne is now happily ensconced at Rosehill.
"See all the dramas now with the leases for trainers at Randwick," Payne said. "Typical AJC, they want every ounce of flesh from you. Moving to Rosehill was the best move I've ever made."
A couple of moves in New Zealand haven't been too bad either for the one-time jockey. Emperor Bonaparte was purchased there. "I've been buying in New Zealand since 1970, '71, been going there a long time," Payne said. "I bought stamina horses."
The downside for Emperor Bonaparte in the Golden Rose is barrier 13 in the 14-horse field, while Baci Amore drew 12, with Stripper to be launched from barrier eight. "From the wide gate, we'll ride Emperor Bonaparte quiet," Payne said. "We'll ride him for luck."
Payne has no doubt that's what is required in the Golden Rose. "It is a very competitive field and you are going to need a lot of luck," he said.
"It has developed into a good race, definitely. It hasn't been around long but you look at the horses that have come out of it … Racing To Win finished second in it. The top three-year-olds coming through are aimed at it. The race is worth $1m. That's nothing to be sniffed at."
The AJC prevented Payne from increasing horse numbers at Randwick but the stable is up to 50 now although it is well short of the trainer's South African team. "I used to have 150 to 200 horses," he said. "This is a small string, this is my semi-retirement." Some retirement. Payne was still at the stables around midday when the Herald called.
Anyway, he knows just how tough it is to win major races, and to have three live hopes shouldn't be overlooked.
"It is hard to do," Payne said. "You have problems along the way, they are horses but, touch wood, we have had no problems."
Is Stripper the one?
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff