By Matt Markham
As a young kid sitting in his father’s lap while they worked horses Sam Payne knew he wanted to be out on the track driving horses seriously one day.
On Sunday one of the young rising talents of the junior driver ranks in New Zealand took the first major step towards a successful career in the sulky when he reined home his first winner, Happy Heidi, at Rangiora.
And what a peach of a drive it was too.
Payne showed experience and skill beyond his years to find a saloon passage through from last at the 400 metre mark to win a strong line up although for a moment he did wonder if he’d messed it up.
“She ran up onto the back of them at the top of the straight and I thought we weren’t going to get the gap,” Payne said.
“Luckily the horse down on the inside started stopping and we managed to get the run and the horse did the rest really.
“She’s got a great turn of foot and it panned of perfectly, it was a great thrill to get the monkey off the back.”
18-year-old Payne has been working for Happy Heidi’s trainer, John Coaster Howe for the best part of a year and a half now and the West Melton horseman has played a key role in kickstarting his career.
“I owe a lot to Coaster, he really pushed me to get my licence and has given me plenty of opportunities out there on the track so I owe him a lot.
“He’s great to work for and is even better to drive for because as long as the horse is looked after he’s happy.”
The son of successful horseman, Greg Payne, Sam left school at the first available opportunity and began to look at his options within the industry.
“I got out of there (school) pretty quickly, it just wasn’t for me. I wanted to be working with horses.
“I went and spent three months in Australia and then came back and started working for Coaster.”
With win No.1 on the board and safely tucked away in the cupboard, Payne is keen to keep the roll ticking over and like any young aspiring driver just starting out in the industry his goals are pretty simple.
“I just want to drive as many winners as I can, that’s the focus at the moment.
“Just being out there and mixing it with everyone is a pretty cool experience too though.
“One day I might like to get into the training side of things, but for now I’m quite keen on the driving side of things and seeing if we can give that a pretty good crack.”
Payne took just 10 drives to get his career officially underway and he’s hoping that his 11th drive, which comes at Addington on Thursday night might be able to give him a good chance of going back-to-back.
“I think I’m driving Art I Am on Thursday night in a junior drivers’ race.
“He should be a good drive, he went great last start.”
If it doesn’t pan out though, don’t worry.
This won’t be the last time you read about Sam Payne winning races.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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