Truly saddened to hear of this. I knew him to say hello to and lived opposite his parents years ago. I know that Sheikh Mo had pulled out of renting his yard so presumably this triggered it as it had been up for rent for a while now. My sympathies to his wife and children - he was well liked around town and it is very sad to think what sort of mental state he was in.
From the Racing Post
"NEWMARKET has been left stunned by the death of former trainer Pip Payne, who was found in local woods on Monday evening.
Payne, 61, retired from training four years ago after accepting an approach from Sheikh Mohammed to rent his Frankland Lodge stables in the Hamilton Road, where he and his family continued to live.
Most recently Payne, a father of three, has been driving for the British Bloodstock Agency.
A Suffolk Police spokeswoman said: "We were called by a member of the public at about 7.20 last night to a woodland area near Middleton Stud, known as Pinewood Stud, after it was reported they had seen a man hanging in the wooded area.
"We attended with fire and ambulance and a man was found to be deceased. It was a man in his sixties and there don't appear to be any suspicious circumstances and the coroner has been informed."
As tributes poured in on Tuesday, fellow Newmarket trainer and close friend James Eustace said: "Of all my friends, I'd have put Pip down last to do something like that. He seemed to me to be fitter, healthier and happier lately than at any other time, frankly. He didn't have the stresses of training, and he had a great family and I thought he was enjoying that.
"Pip has always been an incredibly resilient person so I can only think something cataclysmic has happened, but I don't know what.
"Pip was the nicest, kindest, most generous person you could ever meet, and he is going to be hugely missed by everybody privileged to have known him."
Payne began training in Britain in 1985, before which he trained in France and was head groom to Bruce Hobbs. He trained Nice One Clare to win the Wokingham at Royal Ascot in 2001 and the Diadem Stakes in the same season. The year before he retired, Payne saddled Night Prospector to a shock victory in the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Epsom
