Apprentice Jessica Payne will be out to make the most of a rare visit to town fro two rides at Flemington.
Based at Benalla in north-eastern Victoria, Payne is making just her second visit to the famous track on Saturday although she has metropolitan wins at Mornington and Sandown on her resume.
Payne rides Zlatan in The Dorevitch Pathology Handicap (1600m) and Petite Diablesse in The Building Engineering Handicap (1400m).
Petite Diablesse is prepared by Greg Eurell who provided Payne with a city success at Sandown when Hosting scored in September before going on to win a Listed race at Caulfield during the carnival.
“I rode Hosting to win for Greg at Sandown and he then came out and won a Group race for Kerrin McEvoy,” Payne said.
“It was nice to sit on a nice horse like him.”
With just a year to go until the end of her apprenticeship, Payne said she was starting to see more opportunities and may look to moving closer to Melbourne in the middle of 2015.
“I’ll see what opportunities arise coming into the winter,” she said.
“I’ve only got a year left of my apprenticeship and I want to make the most of it while I can.
“If you don’t come out of your time firing it’s hard to get rides.”
A broken femur, which didn’t heal properly and required corrective surgery, sidelined Payne early in her apprenticeship before she moved to Wayne Nichols at Benalla two years ago.
Payne had a trip of a lifetime to France in June for an apprentice series allowing her to ride work for Criquette Head-Maarek, trainer of dual Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Treve.
