Payne saddles up star jumpers Lord Of The Song and Chaparro, last year’s Grand Annual winner, in the gruelling 5500-metre race.

Lord Of The Song is aiming to become only the third horse in 65 years to lump 69 kilograms to victory. 

Chaparro has an even bigger challenge. Only 11 horses in the race’s 143-year history have won back-to-back Annuals and just four horses have carried his weight of 67.5kg to victory in the past 50 years.

“Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand my two runners face tough tasks,” Payne said.

“But I don’t think the weight side of the Annual is as much as it used to be. The weight scale in the race is a lot different now to what it was. 

“There’s a 69kg maximum and a 64kg minimum. The weights are more compressed now than years ago when there was a 58kg minimum. I think the 5kg gap from top to bottom may suit my horses.”

The 39-year-old said he could not fault the condition of his two horses.

“I’m really happy with how my two horses are going into the race,” he said.

“They both schooled around Warrnambool really well on Sunday. The schools were just to keep both horses familiar with the track and the surrounds. I would not want to do anything different with either horse.”

Payne said it was hard not to get carried away with the Grand Annual hype.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t show much emotion,” he said.

“I’ve watched some people after they have won a race and they start crying. I used to think ‘what is wrong with them?’. 

“I found last year after Chaparro won the Grand Annual I started choking up a bit. I thought to myself ‘I’m about to lose it here’, so I had to gain my composure. I think the reason why I started to lose it is because you spend so much time with these types of horses, you get more attached to them.”

Lord Of The Song and Chaparro have covered plenty of kilometres in preparation.

“We basically have kept Lord Of The Song and Chaparro in work for the past year,” Payne said.

“They just had a short freshen up over the Christmas/New Year break. I’ve found it’s too hard to get old horses back up again if they have the long breaks.

“We’ve put a lot of endurance work into both horses so they can run out the 5500 metres.”

Jumps jockey Richard Cully, who will be attempting back-to-back wins on Chaparro, said the eight-year-old was ready.

“I’ve been very happy how he’s felt the last two times that I’ve schooled him around Warrnambool,” Cully said. “He’s not a straightforward horse to ride but I would say he’s going as good as 2014.”

Champion jumps jockey Steven Pateman, who will be attempting to win this third Grand Annual in five years when he rides Lord Of The Song, said he would not swap his mount.

“I thought Lord Of The Song schooled super on Sunday morning,” Pateman said.

Ciaron Maher was happy with the effort of Regina Coeli to run fourth in the Brierly Steeplechase on Tuesday.

“It’s full steam ahead,” he said yesterday morning after a beach session.

“I think the run in the Brierly will help her.”

New Zealand trainer John Wheeler says tough horses win tough races.

Wheeler should know. He’s won Australia’s feature jumps race on five occasions.

The 65-year-old trainer has Tobouggie Nights and Seeking The Silver entered today.

“You’ve got to be tough and have luck to win the Annual,” Wheeler said.

“It’s a hard race so early in the season. I’ve had Tobouggie Nights and Seeking The Silver in work since before Christmas. 

“We’ve done a lot of work up in the mountains out the back of New Plymouth to toughen them up. The brilliant horses don’t win Annuals.

“We’ve done a lot of endurance work like trotting, walking and cantering the horses for about 20km. I’m sure my two runners will not lack any fitness at the end of the 5500 metres.”