‘She keeps surprising me’: Payne says best yet to come from Proxima Dea

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Cite

Kerry, C. (2026, October 24). ‘She keeps surprising me’: Payne says best yet to come from Proxima Dea. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/racing/she-keeps-surprising-me-payne-says-best-yet-to-come-from-proxima-dea-20261024-p6189w.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

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The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-24 · by Craig Kerry

Quick Summary

David Payne, trainer of Proxima Dea, expressed excitement over his filly's third Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes win at Randwick on Saturday. Unbeaten in five races with a $300,000 reserve price as a yearling, Proxima Dea won the $2 million race by a length and a half from Global Goal, cementing her position as favorite for the VRC Oaks. Payne, who has trained several successful fillies including Montefilia, praised Proxima Dea's stamina and character despite her unassuming appearance.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Rosehill trainer David Payne expressed excitement about the future prospects of Proxima Dea after she won the $2 million Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on Saturday. Despite being unwanted with a $300,000 reserve at yearling sales and having an unbeaten career, Proxima Dea secured her victory by half a length over Global Goal. Payne noted the filly's determination and predicted she will perform well in the VRC Oaks (2500m) on November 5 at Flemington, where she is now favored with odds of $2.30 (TAB).

Written for “Proxima Dea Surprises Payne” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 103580 · logged 2026-10-24

Story

📰 Proxima Dea Surprises Payne
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Sydney Morning Herald
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 2 of 37 📰 publisher trust 61
“While both articles discuss Proxima Dea's success under trainer David Payne, they describe different aspects of her career trajectory and do not clearly refer to the same specific race or incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
26
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
3 of 26 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 4848 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Craig Kerry
39 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 “To look at her, you wouldn’t give much for her, but geez, she seems to have everything.
🔮 He took it on and couldn’t put it together, I suppose, so they asked me to train it.
🔮 “I always had an air of confidence she would run her best race today,” Maher said.
🔮 Why this seven-year-old, $34 shot might just be poised to spring an almighty Everest upset By
🔮 TAB senior trader Tim Ryan says Everest day favourites Ka Ying Rising and Autumn Glow are set to deliver a multimillion dollar “wipeout” on Saturday, after the blow of losing Pride Of Jenni from the King Charles III Stakes.
🔮 The six-year-old, expected to take his winning streak to 22 on Saturday and prizemoney past $37 million, has raced just once on rain-affected going, and won.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · Runner-by-runner guide to the 2026 Everest
🔮 Dale said he also discussed Super Norwest as an option with Hillier, but Rose Aye’s form won the spot, and he was confident it would hold up.
🔮 “Ka Ying, it’s his second time travelling and no doubt things would be smoother for him this time around, and he was able to win and win quite easy last time.
🔮 She will aim for another first-attempt win next week when she partners Warwoven in the Cox Plate at Flemington.
🔮 The switch of Pride Of Jenni to race at Randwick, the scene of her amazing breakaway win in the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), has built the mile feature into arguably the race of the Everest program, overshadowing the $20 million showpiece expected to be dominated by defending champion Ka Ying Rising ($1.50 favourite).
Also by Craig Kerry
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 39 articles by Craig Kerry →

Topics

Queensland Oaks Rosehill South Africa Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) VRC Oaks

Subjects

Payne PERSON · 4× Montefilia PERSON · 3× Proxima Dea PERSON · 3× Waller ORG · 3× Lloyd PERSON · 2× South Africa GPE · 2× David Payne PERSON · 1× Gypsy Goddess PERSON · 1× Rosehill GPE · 1× Zac Lloyd PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The full sister to Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess took her unbeaten career to five, pushing to sit outside the leader in the $2 million three-year-old feature from the outside gate under Zac Lloyd before going for home on the home bend at Randwick on Saturday.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24
🔮 “To look at her, you wouldn’t give much for her, but geez, she seems to have everything.
2026-10-24 · The Sydney Morning Herald
‘She keeps surprising me’: Payne says best yet to come from Proxima Dea · assertive framing

Claims (26 extracted, 3 hedged)

Rosehill trainer David Payne was excited for what’s to come from immature surprise packet Proxima Dea after she gave him a third group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) win to cement her place as the VRC Oaks favourite. asserted
she → ’ → favourite
The full sister to Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess took her unbeaten career to five, pushing to sit outside the leader in the $2 million three-year-old feature from the outside gate under Zac Lloyd before going for home on the home bend at Randwick on Saturday. asserted
sister → take → Saturday
The tactic paid off as Gloaming Stakes (1800m) winner Proxima Dea, unwanted with a $300,000 reserve at yearling sales and retained by her breeders, fended off favourite and Flight Stakes (1600m) champion Global Goal by a length and a half. asserted
Dea → pay → length
“To look at her, you wouldn’t give much for her, but geez, she seems to have everything. asserted
she → look → everything
She’s got guts and heart,” Payne said. asserted
Payne → get → guts
“I said to [Lloyd], ‘She’ll outstay them. asserted
She → say → them
We can’t have a sit and sprint. asserted
We → have → sit
If nothing goes, you go. asserted
you → go → ?
“She’ll love [the Oaks], and you can give her a bit of an easier ride.” asserted
you → love → ride
It was a first group 1 win for Payne, 78, since 2020 Spring Champion victor Montefilia took out the 2022 Ranvet – her fourth success at the top level – for the same ownership as Proxima Dea. asserted
Montefilia → take → Dea
Payne also won the 2017 Spring Champion with colt Ace High. asserted
Payne → win → High
“This filly keeps surprising me,” said Payne, a champion trainer and jockey in South Africa before coming to Sydney in 2002. asserted
Payne → surprise → 2002
“Montefilia was a good filly, but I think this filly stays better than Montefilia. asserted
filly → think → Montefilia
“I had a New Zealand filly in South Africa called Petrava, she was unbelievable [and won five group 1s]. asserted
she → have → group
She used to just jump and run to the front, 1600, lead all the way. asserted
She → use → lead
She could sprint a mile. uncertain
She → sprint → mile
“I’ve had a lot of good fillies but this one, she’s the ugliest I think, but she keeps surprising me. asserted
she → ’ → me
She might be, the way she’s going, I mean, five in a row in her first prep, who knows? uncertain
who → go → prep
“I’ve had some good staying fillies, but she’s exceptional because she’s still not mature, when you look at her. asserted
you → have → her
It was also gutsy effort from Lloyd, who battled illness to ride on a warm day at Randwick after missing the midweek meeting at Warwick Farm. asserted
who → battle → Farm
He earlier won the Highway Handicap on Scott Singleton-trained Ocean Tsunami. asserted
He → win → Tsunami
Guineas on map for Central Europe Chris Waller-trained Central Europe later broke through at his seventh start, sweeping to a 3¼-length win in the $1 million group 3 Callander-Presnell (1600m) for three-year-olds. asserted
Europe → train → olds
The Frankel colt, an unlucky second in the Skyline Stakes and placed in the Pago Pago Stakes and Rosebud, came from second last down the outside under Jason Collett to prove a class above. “I think maybe a Sandown Guineas could be a nice race for him and then obviously aim a lot higher in the autumn,” Waller representative Darren Beadman said. uncertain
Beadman → place → autumn
“James [McDonald] was always saying he was pretty good and today he showed it with his turn of foot.” asserted
he → say → foot
In the Kirkham Plate (1000m) for two-year-olds to start the day, Waller-trained Exo Velocity ($13) caused an upset with a rails run from last under Kerrin McEvoy to edge out stablemate Tour De Force ($7) by a long neck on debut. asserted
Velocity → start → debut
Exo Velocity, a $650,000 Zoustar yearling bought by Waller and Guy Mulcaster, is the first foal out of Dalrello and Calaway Gal Stakes winner Exo Lady and looks likely to target the Magic Millions carnival in January. asserted
Velocity → buy → January
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