Classy Ace living up to Payne’s high expectations

The story goes that the champion jockey was asked to ride a relatively unknown filly at trackwork one morning. She went so fast, she had everyone checking their stopwatches.

After the gallop the jockey, who had not been told the identity of the horse he was riding, made a beeline to trainer Peter Moody and said the filly was the best horse he had ridden in years. The filly had only been to the races a couple of times. Her name was Black Caviar.

The point is, the quality racehorses separate themselves from the rest.

There is the bleeding obvious, such as Black Caviar. Then there are others that may not be quite so evident to the untrained eye. But a good horseman can tell — often from the first moment the horse is tested at trackwork.

They don’t need to run time or beat their galloping companion by a margin, but an experienced trainer or jockey understands when a horse has real ability. It’s a sixth sense.

It was like this for trainer David Payne the moment he saw the High Chaparral colt walk into the Magic Millions Sales ring. Payne was taken by the near-black colt’s athleticism and attitude. Something told him he had to buy the colt and he went to $130,000 to secure the yearling.

John Cordina, a long-time owner with Payne, was next to the trainer and asked who he’d bought the colt for. “I told John I thought this was a classic-type colt and I will find some mates and syndicate him,’’ Payne recalled.

“That’s when John said ‘I will take him’ and I said ‘with pleasure’.’’

Eighteen months on, the colt is called Ace High and is favourite for the Group 1 $500,000 Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Call it his sixth sense, or simply knowledge from years of experience, but Payne got it right. Ace High, a last-start winner of the Gloaming Stakes, has become a classic contender.

Payne said Ace High showed above-average ability before he had even had a race start.

“From day one, he showed me something,’’ the trainer said.

“That first morning at trackwork when I asked him to work along, you could see he had ability. When you work with them long enough, you soon get to know — they tell you.

“It might be their conformation, their stride, their ability to cope with training, there are lots of little signs they give you.

“This colt, from day one, had the promise of making a good stayer. It’s horses like him that keep us all going in this game. When you find that next good horse, you say to yourself ‘thank God, we have a nice one’.’’

Payne spoke to Cordina after Ace High’s first fast gallop last year and reiterated his belief that the colt was a promising horse in the making.

“I talk every day to John and he knew from that morning he had a good one,’’ Payne said.

Cordina is also a knowledgeable horseman, cutting his teeth in the harness code before being persuaded to join in the ownership of his first thoroughbred, Fairway, nearly 20 years ago. Fairway was a champion and won the Sydney spring triple crown in 1999, including the Gloaming Stakes and Spring Champion Stakes.

He trained on to win the 2000 ATC (then the AJC) Australian Derby and that year defeated Sunline in the Turnbull Stakes.

Cordina revealed the day he inspected Ace High as a yearling at the Magic Millions Sales last year, he was immediately struck by the colt’s resemblance to Fairway.

“Ace High was a tall, strapping type and to tell you the truth he reminded me a lot of Fairway,’’ Cordina said. “Fairway won the Gloaming and the Spring Champion Stakes and it is a coincidence that Ace High is now trying to do the same.

“Ace High is improving the same way Fairway did. He showed promise as a two-year-old and is starting to fill into himself now. We feel he will be even better again next autumn.’’

Cordina has raced horses with Payne since 2003. The owner and trainer have had a lot of success together but combining for a Group 1 win has eluded them. In fact, Cordina hasn’t had a Group 1 winner since Fairway so there is a certain symmetry that he is going back to where it began for him in the thoroughbred industry, searching for Spring Champion Stakes success with Ace High.

Payne has trained many good gallopers for Cordina, including the likes of Gallant Tess, Centennial Park and Praecido. Gallant Tess was probably the best of them, winning the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes while recording five minor placings at Group 1 level, including her third in the 2008 Epsom Handicap.

Centennial Park won more than $1 million in prizemoney including the Group 2 Expressway Stakes, while he ran a close second in the 2011 Chipping Norton Stakes. Praecido was second in the 2010 Victoria Derby and ran third in the Spring Champion Stakes.

“Ace High has a lot more potential than Praecido. This colt has so much upside to him, it is not funny,’’ Cordina said.

Although Ace High has only won twice from 10 starts, this has been more to do with his inexperience, the unsuitably short race distances and his wilful behaviour.

“He is a cheeky colt, it is a wonder he still has his manhood,’’ Payne said. “If I had my way, he would be gelded by now as he was very tough to manage as a younger colt. He would kick you, have a go at you, he was very headstrong. But he is fine now, he is learning how to behave. He realises he has to be disciplined and he has been good. He’s settling down.’’

Ace High’s improved stable behaviour is reflected in the colt’s racing style.

“He is a very relaxed horse,’’ Payne said. “He switched off really well in his races and I would imagine he would be a lovely ride. He can lead or settle back, it doesn’t matter to him, and he will enjoy the 2000m.

“The (Victoria) Derby is in the back of my mind but we have to get past (Saturday). As you know, it is race-by-race in this game.’’

Payne only has 25 in work at his Rosehill stables so the trainer has done well to have two starters in the Spring Champion Stakes with Colesberg also making the field.

But the stablemates are at opposite ends of the TAB Fixed Odds market — Ace High is $3.40 favourite and Colesberg the rank outsider at $51.

“Colesberg has drawn a barrier so he can race a bit handier,’’ Payne said. “But he needs some ‘cut’ in the ground to show his best.’’

Payne has trained more than 100 Group 1 winners during a celebrated career that began 45 years ago in his native South Africa but you sense it would be a special moment if he could deliver Cordina that elusive major with Ace High tomorrow.

“John has been a very patient, loyal client for many years,’’ Payne said. “We have won Group 2 and 3 races and been unlucky in a few Group 1 races. John loves the game, he lives for his racing and I’d love to win a Group 1 race for him, he deserves it.’’

Copy: Ray Thomas, The Daily Telegraph
[06/10/2017]

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