The former polished jumps and flat jockey and now trainer had the brave but quirky Sea King attempting to win one of the state's most important jumps events. Lumping his 71kg on an extremely heavy track, Payne was aware that much was going to be asked of the nine-year-old gelding.

And while he knew Sea King had a mind of his own, he knew for all the "silly ways" the rising 10-year-old had he could also recall how brave and brutally strong the jumper could be when the chips were down.
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"People asked me why I rode jumpers and trained jumpers, it's for that relationship between man and horse. Both have got to trust each other and to know each other and that makes the thrill of winning these races so special when you overcome so much and you are together at the end of the day," he said.

"This bloke is a classic example of why you enjoy the jumps events during the winter. I was down at the fence with a couple of hundred metres to go and I was fully aware he'd made up probably 150 metres on the tearaway leader and thought to myself 'the effort was going to tell'.

"But just when I thought he had dropped his bundle he picked himself up and showed just how strong a motor he has. He grabbed the few lengths that he trailed the early leader Nishiazabu and amazingly once he got to the lead he was becoming stronger and stronger as the race went on"

Payne said that he would gladly take all of the pats on the back and congratulatory messages for Sea King's victory but added that the steeplechaser had only been in his stable for 10 days, not much time to put barely any of the finishing touches on the horse.

"Kevin Myers has done all the work with him, he knows him and overall he's a freak judge of jumpers. And he's done a marvellous job with this guy as well," he said.

"It's been agreed we'll push on with him to the Mosstrooper Steeplechase and then the Crisp Steeplechase and they're races that are set weights and penalties so he has a great advantage against the others.

"But we won't look at the Grand National Steeplechase because he'd just be weighted out of it."

It was an extraordinary performance by runner-up Nishiazabu, who appeared to lead by at least a jump during the running of the race and it took Sea King until the closing stages of the Thackeray to reel him in.

The South Australian is a dashing fencer and is likely to be testing material in this year's Grand National Steeplechase.

The odds-on favourite, Arch Fire, who was making his debut over steeplechases found the event beyond him but was brave in finishing third.

The extraordinary early speed seemed to have many of the jumpers struggling a long way out, all except for Sea King.

Arch Fire will no doubt improve from his first run over fences.

Payne said that the Warrnambool Racing Club should be congratulated by the way they managed to hold race meetings and trials for jumpers and work tirelessly keeping those meetings and trial dates from being postponed, knowing the confusion it can cause.