KEY POINTS:
Andrew Payne, a member of one of Australian racing's most successful families, will leave for the United States next week to continue his career.
Payne will link with New York trainer Todd Pletcher as a trackwork rider in the hope of earning a position as an assistant trainer
in his stable.
He said Pletcher had 250 horses in work and had six assistant trainers.
"My plan is start off with the basics and hopefully do really well and end up with more responsibility," Payne said.
Payne said he would start off working with the stable's horses currently racing at Florida.
"I absolutely love training. It's my passion and I feel I have the ability to do it," Payne said. "But the property I was on at Ballarat got sold and left me up in the air.
"I always wanted to go away but I stayed on while the opportunities were there."
Payne, 29, said he had three horses in work at Ballarat and was not sure if he would have a runner before he left and the horses were transferred to his brother Patrick.
He rode 225 winners in Australia and Macau before he started training nearly eight years ago.
He prepared his first city winner Snappa Cane at Sandown in December, 2002 and went on to have success with injury-plagued stayer Tubular Bells who won six races and ran second in the 2006 Adelaide Cup.
He also trained On A Jeune when the stayer ran sixth in the 2007 Melbourne Cup and third in the Bendigo Cup.
Payne said he felt he could learn more about training young horses from Pletcher, who has a great reputation with 2-year-olds, and eventually bring that knowledge back to Australia where he would like to resume his training career.
"I wasn't as confident with 2-year-olds and felt I could learn a lot more in that area and that's one of the main reasons I'm going.
"The modern-day trainer has to cover all bases. I've always known how to get a horse fit, but I'd like to be a bit more confident with 2-year-olds."
Meanwhile, Payne said Tubular Bells would more than likely be prepared for a comeback after his latest injury, a suspensory problem, but he didn't know who would be training the horse.
"I had a look at him the other day and his leg looks great. There's every chance the owners will give him another try," he said.
- AAP
