Brant Has Grand Plans for Improving Payson Park

After being away from the game he loved for about 20 years, it took Peter Brant less than two years to return to the upper echelon of Thoroughbred racing.

In January, his comeback was heralded through an Eclipse Award for his Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) winner Sistercharlie as the female turf champion in 2018 and his own inclusion among the three finalists for the honor of the sport's leading owner.

Now, he's taken his involvement in racing to a new level.

Brant confirmed May 24 that he has purchased Payson Park, the storied 405-acre training center in Indiantown, Fla., from Virginia Kraft Payson, and, much like his stable, he intends to refurbish the facility with the goal of making it "the leading training center in the country."

Brant has enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with Payson Park. More than three decades ago, trainer LeRoy Jolley brought a string of Brant's best horses—graded stakes winners such as Gulch, Mogambo, and Track Barron—to Payson Park, where they thrived in the warm Florida climate.

This past winter, he stabled horses there with trainer Chad Brown, rekindling his fondness for the 62-year-old facility that has served as a springboard to graded stakes victories for a long list of horses.

"We had a lot of luck there," Brant said. "A lot of good horses came out of there looking great and were ready to run. Chad has been using it the last few years, and he's had success there. We tracked how horses did after wintering there, and the record was incredible."

Brant's statistics were underscored by the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). The first three official finishers—Country House, Code of Honor, and Tacitus—wintered at Payson Park for trainers Bill Mott and Shug McGaughey.

"I'm very positive about this," Brant said of the news, which was first reported May 24 by TDN.

Brant said his original intention in purchasing the property was to use it as a training center for his expanding stable, but his vision for Payson Park and its nearly 500 stalls has risen to a grand scale.

"Originally, it was strictly for my own plans. Like other leading owners, I wanted to have a place to winter without being forced to run, so you could pick your spots to race. Having your own facility allows you to decide how many starts you want in Florida or if you just want to start your campaign in New York," Brant said. "I love the dirt course, and the turf course needs work. It needs a new rail, some help with the watering system, and it should be widened a bit. The turf track has great potential, but the great thing is that the original engineering was really done well. The drainage is really good, and it has stood the test of time."

Brant said the one-mile dirt track's soil will be screened, with an emphasis on creating an even surface without rocks. To help with the capital improvements, Brant is relying on consultants, including Glen Kozak, the senior vice president of operations and capital projects for the New York Racing Association.

"We had some consultants come in, and they gave us some good suggestions," Brant said. "We had Mr. Kozak, who helped us a lot in terms of looking at the starting gate and looking at the turf course and the main track. A lot of trainers have great faith in him, so we wanted to get his opinions on what he thought. He convinced us that with a little capital investment, we could turn it into the leading training center in the country, and that's our goal."

Kozak could not be reached for comment.

Payson Park's extensive facility includes 21 barns with 499 stalls, 76 turnout paddocks, two dormitories with 62 rooms, a seven-eighths-of-a-mile turf track, a six-horse starting gate, European-style galloping trails, maintenance facilities and equipment, hay and feed storage facilities, a veterinary clinic, a cafe, viewing stands, an office, and a managers' residence. It has been on the market since 2012, and Brant said the purchase price was less than the most recently listed price of $7.9 million.

"They came down in price," he said, "and it was a fair price. To reproduce something like this would cost $20-25 million. We got a good place at a good price."

The new owner said the overhaul will begin in a short amount of time.

"We've been making plans for three or four months because we thought we would close on the sale earlier than we did," he said. "We will start working right away. We ordered the equipment, the rails for the turf course, and we are in the process of bidding out the widening of the turf course."

Payson Park was built in the early 1950s by racing luminaries Michael Phipps, Bull Hancock, Townsend Martin, and C.T. Chenery. Since 1980, the facility has been owned and operated by Payson. 

McGaughey, who trains Code of Honor, has been sending horses to Payson Park for more than 30 years, with Hall of Famers Easy Goer and Lure among the famed alumni of the training center. He was pleased that the facility will be remaining in the hands of someone with a great passion for racing.

"I think it's great. I know Peter does everything in a first-class manner. He'll make the right improvements, and he'll save Payson Park," the Hall of Fame trainer said. "The main track is in good shape, but it hasn't been looked at in a few years. There's no doubt it's in good hands with Peter. A lawyer owned it, and it was in bad shape until Mrs. Payson bought it. While she was active in racing it was great, but as she got older, as much as she took care of everything, it had to be a burden for her to keep it going."

As much as there promises to be considerable change at Payson Park, there will be one lasting reminder of its glory days, even under new management.

"We're keeping the name Payson Park as a tribute to Mrs. Payson, who had taken it to this high level and really got involved with it 40 years ago," Brant said. "She was the steward of it."