'Team Munce' sets Payline for Ascot Handicap

By Glenn Davis

The father-and-son training partnership of Chris and Corey Munce is hopeful Payline can derail the Tony Gollan juggernaut when the gelding resumes in the Listed Ascot Handicap at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

The Ascot Handicap is one of the few remaining races in Queensland which has eluded Gollan who has dominated Brisbane’s training ranks for more than a decade.

Gollan has a five-pronged attack in the 1000 metre feature including topweight Zarastro along with Cannonball, King Kapa, Nettuno and Liquor.

The Robert Heathcote-trained The Big Goodbye denied Gollan his latest chance for victory in last year’s Ascot Handicap when his talented All That Pizzazz finished second.

Payline is having his first start since his miraculous win in the $1 million The Syndicate at the Sunshine Coast on January 4.

The Syndicate has been a happy hunting ground for the Munce team who also claimed the Magic Millions feature with Centrefire at the Gold Coast two years ago.

Like Centrefire, Payline is a son of Shooting To Win and was a distant last approaching the home turn in The Syndicate.

Visiting jockey Damian Lane produced a miracle ride and managed to weave his way through the field for a convincing win over the Gollan-trained Golden Boom.

“I knew he’d finish off the race well but we never knew how good he could be until that night,” co-trainer Chris said of The Syndicate win.

“The form around him in that race was very good as a lot of them had been running in stakes races.”

Chris admits the recent spell of wet weather has disrupted Payline’s campaign and his performance in the Ascot will determine his winter goals.

“He’s always been a big strong horse but the weather has put us behind the eight ball like a lot of other trainers,” Chris said.

“He’s only had a jump-out but if he runs well there’s a lot of suitable races coming up like the Doomben 10,000 and some of the other big sprints.

“If he doesn’t go as well as we hope on Saturday then he can come back a peg or two.”

Chris is also wary of the weather and hopes for a track upgrade with Eagle Farm rated a Soft 6 on Thursday afternoon. 

“He can handle soft tracks but I wouldn’t like a heavy track as he was well beaten on a bottomless track at Eagle Farm the start before he won The Syndicate,” Chris said.

Payline was a $120,000 buy as a Magic Millions yearling and has gradually worked his way through the restricted grades with five wins and seven placings from 16 starts.

Chris is also chasing his first win the Ascot Handicap as a trainer. 

It is a race he won twice as a jockey aboard the Darryl Hansen-trained Essington in 2010 and the following year on Bold Glance for former Toowoomba trainer Norm Hilton.