KEY POINTS:
Just days after training his first winner, former outstanding jockey Patrick Payne is hoping to break through at a Melbourne metropolitan meeting with ex-Queenslander Torino Luge at Moonee Valley today.
Torino Luge won his last two starts in the country for Payne's sister Therese Patton and will be trying to add to the winning run in the California Dane Handicap (3000m).
Payne, 32, said it was a chance for both him and Torino Luge to win a city race with the best summer stayers running in the group three Bagot Handicap (2500m) at Flemington next Tuesday.
"He has fallen into a nice race with the Bagot on New Year's Day attracting the stars," Payne said last night.
Therese Patton for several years has been an established trainer at Rockbank, west of Melbourne, but Payne has taken over the training of most of her 20 to 25 horses as she scales back her involvement.
"Therese has three young children and she is planning to move back to Ballarat where she could have one or two horses in work," Payne said.
Formerly trained by Ron Maund at Toowoomba, Torino Luge joined the stable last spring as a potential jumper next year. "Ron Maund was good enough to send the horse down for us to have a play with and he is going to go jumping later this season if he handles it okay," Payne said.
He has had four Victorian starts and at the first two of them finished second at Horsham and Casterton before scoring over 2100 metres in rating 68 class at both Swan Hill on November 25 and Stony Creek on December 15.
"He has probably found a few cheap races but is meeting a stronger field at Moonee Valley," Payne said. "He might not be good enough but it is a nice chance for him to have a crack at a city race." Apprentice Dean Holland will claim two kilos on Torino Luge who will carry 53kg.
"He (Torino Luge) is not overly-blessed with ability and will need all the help he can get," Payne said.
Payne had many highlights as a jockey with the 2002 Cox Plate victory on Northerly among his many group one wins.
He is enjoying his new career training horses and was thrilled when High Tszyu won for him at Seymour on December 23.
"It was terrific and also great that Michelle (Patrick's sister) rode him," Payne said.
Training horses was inevitable for Payne who had a battle with increasing weight for much of his riding career.
He tried to prolong his career with a stint riding over jumps but in the end was happy to retire and try his luck as a trainer.
He had always helped out his father Paddy Payne training horses at Ballarat and for the last five years he was riding he assisted Therese Patton.
Payne said a big part of the family business was trading horses to Asia and that the stable's best horses, providing they passed a vet test, would continue to be sold overseas.
- AAP
