From Petrava to a Satono Aladdin – Payne’s unlikely return to New Zealand 

When David Payne was a major training force in his native South Africa during the 1980s and ’90s, he was a regular attendee at New Zealand’s national yearling sales.

Trips to Trentham and later Karaka netted Payne the Imposing mare Petrava, who he trained to win five Grade 1s during a 15-start career in the mid-1980s, as well as her three-time Grade 1-winning daughter Hoeberg.

Payne emigrated to Australia in 2002 to continue his career in Sydney and so he continued to attend the New Zealand sales as he established himself in a new country.

But as the 78-year-old trainer scaled back his Rosehill stable in recent years Karaka was no longer on his radar and has not been to the famed NZ sales grounds for a decade.

However, that changed this year when Payne’s friend and long-time client Wayne Shelton insisted the master trainer join him at this week’s New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.

And he made the most of the trip, with Payne and Shelton paying $450,000 for a Satono Aladdin half-brother to Group 3 winner Faithful Feat early on day one of the NZB sale at Karaka, the country’s 100th annual sale.

“I wanted a Satono Aladdin, because I think he can give you a classic horse,” Payne said.

“I looked at them all, and I saw this one and I said, ‘Jeez, he’s just an athlete’. He’s a lovely horse and has a lovely, fluent action. Satono Aladdin is doing well and he’s out of a Snitzel mare, so it’s all there. I just thought, ‘This is the one I’d love, if I can get him’.

“He should be a 1600m horse, which is what you’re looking for. I’m hoping we can try to win a Guineas or something like that.”

Payne credited Shelton for keeping him in racing, with shares in about 15 of his 20-horse Rosehill stable.

“I used to come in the 1980s, including the old days when it was at Trentham. I’ve bought a lot of good horses from here over the years, like Petrava, Take A Walk, Hoeberg – they all won Group 1 races,” Payne said.

“But I haven’t been back here for at least 10 years. Wayne said that I’m coming back. I’m 78 years old, so I thought I’ll just slow down, but it looks like I’m back in business.”

Payne also has another Kiwi-bred horse, $10.9 million earner Ceolwulf, to also thank for his own return to Karaka.

“I introduced Wayne to Joe Pride because he knew I was going to be semi-retired, and he said, ‘if you retire I want a new trainer, so I said to go with Joe and just by chance he had Ceolwulf on the market, so he took 20 per cent,” Payne said.

“He’s raced quite a few with me, and we’ve been successful with cheap horses, but now he’s stepped up, after Ceolwulf. 

“Before I go out he wants to give me a good one.” 

He then adds: “I had Ace High, I had Montefilia, I had Criterion, I had all those top horses, so you just need one.

“I’ve always been lucky and been able to find one. I hope this is the next one.”

The Satono Aladdin colt, who was sold by Little Avondale, may not be Payne’s last Karaka purchase, either.