After a long and patient
seven months in Australia, that at times must have seemed an eternity, David
Payne has produced his first runner, at Royal Randwick, Sydney's premier
racetrack. The 3 year old Danehill
filly, Sierra Dane, was always guaranteed to be David's first campaigner given
that 90% of his stable, approaching 25 in number, comprise two year olds.
Two year old racing commences in Australia next month.
Sierra Dane (Danehill x
Sierra Finch) had been placed twice from three starts as a two year old
in New Zealand and her owners Nelson Schick, Steve Till and Mark Davison (also
majority owners of Champion sire Volksraad), decided to relocate her to Australia
where the track conditions are generally firmer than in New Zealand.
On Wednesday 21 August,
Sierra Dane contested a $20,000 (half stakes mid week) Three Year Old Maiden
Plate over 1400 metres on the recently refurbished track at Royal
Randwick. The field for the Maiden event read like the "Who's Who of
Blue Blooded Thoroughbreds". The favourite was the Gai Waterhouse trained
colt Stanford (Danehill x Rossignol), a $1.1 million purchase (approx R6
million !) at the 1991 Australian Easter Yearling Sale, the highest priced
colt of the entire sale. The lineup also included the highest priced filly of
the same sale, Fiammarosa (Danehill x Shindig) at $950,000, expensive
geldings by successful stallions Kingdom Bay and Unbridled's Song and a colt
by Grand Lodge.
In a field of ten,
Sierra Dane started a well supported second favourite ($3.00 decimalised or
2/1) on the evidence of a smart barrier trial at Rosehill Gardens the previous
week. In the race proper, Sierra Dane broke on terms and immediately took
up the running under a good hold by jockey Danny Beasley. After 200 metres he
allowed Fiammarosa to tack across him onto the running rail as the field swung
right handed onto the University of NSW side of the course. Stanford
ranged along side, then fractionally ahead, relegating Sierra Dane to third,
still cosy on the fence though, a length and a half adrift of Fiammarosa who
had slowed the pace perceptibly. The order remained unchanged until the
entrance to the straight, at which point the pace setter kicked to lead
by two lengths. Sierra Dane was poised to slot through between the running
rail and the leader, but with no false rail, a run was not assured. Danny
Beasley, anticipating that access may not be forthcoming, extracted his
filly from the running rail, but was immediately held tight by Stanford,
who was adhering to his line at all costs. In spite of all manoeuvres
within the laws of race riding, Danny and Sierra Dane were not going to get an
unimpeded passage, so after some jostling, Danny resorted to switching to the
inside path that he had anticipated earlier. Unexpectedly, Fiammarosa began to
roll off the rail, creating space for Sierra Dane. Unfortunately, the earlier
impediment had meant that Sierra Dane had lost ground, and she was now in
fourth position about two lengths behind, as the Graeme Rogerson trained Wild
Heart had, in the interim, loomed down the centre passing Stanford to
challenge Fiammarosa. More importantly, the pair were racing well inside the
final 150 metres. Once Sierra Dane saw daylight she rallied to the task
to produce a sustained finish in the concluding stages to be involved in a
three way photo finish. The freeze of the TV replay hinted at a
triple dead heat. The photo finish
finally showed that Fiammarosa had prevailed by a nose
to deny David Payne, by a nostril, the "Dream Start" to his
career Down Under. Wild Heart finished a similar distance behind in third
place. David was philosophical in defeat.
Afterwards, when
approached by the media, David commented "That's the game, it
happens", he said. "(Fiammarosa) just wasn't coming off the fence
and Stanford kept us in but that's jockeyship". Danny Beasley commented
that Sierra Dane would have won with only a hint of room and believes that the
filly will improve appreciably with racing experience. "I just couldn't
get out but she travelled really nice. It will smarten her up a bit - it will
make her more streetwise".
Former South African
racing commentator and journalist Gary Knowles best summed it up in a
post race message to David titled "Amper, Amper". "So close
amigo. Sorry about the result David, but at least they know you're here
now".
David produces his
second runner this Saturday when Hoeberg makes her Australian debut in the
$150,000 Group 2 Warwick Stakes WFA over 1400 metres at Warwick Farm (start
time 06h45 Saturday morning South African time). She faces a formidable lineup
of seven rivals including superstar Lonrho, arguably he best racehorse in
Australia and a replica of his sire Octagonal, and other top class
performers Defier, Carnegie Express and Republic Lass.
Click here for full
field.
David has been
allocated 25 stables on course at Royal Randwick. Such has been the demand for
his services, that he has enquired about the availability of additional boxes.
Subject to local Council approval, the AJC (Australian Jockey Club) have
indicated that they will proceed with the building of a further 200
stables, in addition to refurbishing the existing ones.
Official results taken from The Daily Telegragh 22/8/02 : by Eden
Harrington.
Race 5 : 3YO
MAIDEN PLATE : 1400m Of
$20,000 |
|
| 1st |
9.FIAMMAROSA
($11.00) Lenny Beasley (5) 55.5 Max Lees. |
| |
B F 03 Danehill (USA) x Shindig (NZ) (Straight
Strike (USA)) Mrs S E Suduk |
 |
| 2nd |
10.SIERRA DANE
($3.00) Danny Beasley (3) 55.5 David Payne. |
| |
B F 03 Danehill (USA) x Sierra Finch (USA)
(Diesis (GB)) S J Till, N E Schick & M H S Davison |
|
| 3rd |
7.WILD HEART
($7.50) Darryl McLellan (10) 57.5 Graeme Rogerson. |
| |
GR G 03 Unbridled's Song (USA) x Blushing Rose
(USA) (Mt. Livermore (USA)) G A Rogerson & J F Woodward |
|
| margins |
Nose - Nose
|
|
| times |
1-24.15 Sectional: 600/35.93
|
|
| then followed |
5.STANFORD
($2.90F) Chris Munce, 2.KIWI
CRUISER (NZ) ($11.00) Jim Cassidy, 1.DANEWIN
CHIEF ($21.00) James Innes, 4.SESEMANN
($8.00) Rod Quinn, 8.CABINDA
($17.00) Corey Brown, 3.MAXIMIZE
($41.00) |
|