Huge year on horizon as champion juvenile trotter resumes

Thursday night (Apr. 13) harness racing at Addington Raceway see’s the return of one of last season’s stars in the form of High Energy (Father Patrick).

The Mark and Nathan Purdon trained three-year-old filly hasn’t been sighted publicly since her otherworldly performance in the inaugural G1 Ace of Hearts where despite never being closer than three cart widths to the running rail and languishing at the rare throughout, the Breckon bred unwound and simply annihilated the best in her crop.

“You just don’t do that, get run off the track and put them away as she did,” said her co-trainer, Nathan Purdon.

“She can be a hard horse to get a gauge on but her work at Addington was good enough to suggest she is every bit as good as she was last season,” he said.

The latter might be some very important news to her backers and even those tempted to lay the daughter of Father Patrick as while High Energy hasn’t had any official workouts or trials, she has had a private hit out at headquarters some 10 days ago in preparation for her resumption.

“She is a filly that seems to go fresh and doesn’t cop a lot of work, we don’t work her overly hard. I think this run will put her to 100%, but she wouldn’t be far from it,” he said.

When speaking to his father and co-trainer Mark earlier in the day, I put it to him about where this filly would rank in terms of ability compared to some of the other high-class fillies he has trained and in particular, the likes of another Breckon bred G1 winner, Luby Lou.

“This filly could well be the best of them he said. Although Luby Lou won a Derby and we didn’t quite see the best of her due to injury, I think this filly is better than she was at the same age and could well be something special,” he said.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to hear those sentiments given High Energy’s dam was a four-time G1 winner among a career that saw her win 16 races on her way to being crowned Australian and New Zealand filly trotter of the year at two and three.

High Energy’s sire in Father Patrick has crossed phenomenally well in North America over Muscles Yankee (and Muscle Hill) mares with 19 $100k earners from 32 foals produced on the cross.

Her grand-dam, Regal Volo (Malabar Man), has also produced classics performers in Tewntyten (Muscles Yankee), Allanah Hall (Angus Hall) and Regal Attire (Muscle Hill) in what has become one of the best performed families in the stud book in recent times.

Nathan Purdon admits that while the high-class filly has one of the best gaits of a young trotter he has been associated with, she doesn’t exactly live up to her name in training at home in Rolleston.

“She is sort of a deceiving horse because she just does the bare minimum in track work around home, and you wouldn’t say she impresses you too much. She just saves it all for the racetrack, I suppose,” he said.

The unbeaten filly might be small in stature, but she certainly makes up for it with vigour on the racetrack and having had the benefit of a few months out after her G1 triumph in December, her trainer is pleased with how she has presented this time in with loft targets on the horizon.

“She strengthened up a bit in her time out spelling, but she hasn’t grown. I wouldn’t call her a midget, but she is certainly on the smaller side. She has filled out a lot and this time in she holds her weight a bit better than she did last campaign. A couple of strong runs of fast work around home she could drop away pretty quick in condition and this time in she is probably the heaviest she has ever been,” he said.

Safely through tomorrow night’s assignment, High Energy will be on a float north for the Auckland autumn carnival where she will contest the G2 3YO Sires Stakes Trot and all things going well, the Northern Trotting Derby and Oaks.

Her dam was third and second in her two Derby attempts behind Marcoola, something High Energy looks more than capable of outdoing as the season progresses.

“As long as she comes back good and races well this start, she will head north if she continues on the vein of form she was in last season, I am sure she is good enough to compete with the boys,” he said.

Waiting in the wings for the All Stars and Breckon Farms camp is a full sister to the G1 star in High Step who on the merits of her public appearances at workouts and trials looks to have inherited some of the family ability.

“She’s quite a smart filly on a whole, she is a lot taller than high Energy is and has to fill into her frame just yet. She probably isn’t the ready-made two-year-old that High Energy was but she certainly seems like she can run a bit anyway,” he said.

Purdon will take a team of four to headquarters on Thursday night for the seven-race programme, beginning with Fortify (Bettor’s Delight) in the Magness Benrow Sires Stakes heat which will be run as a non-tote due to attracting just the three runners.

The Jean Feiss owned three-year-old was touted as a horse to watch early on in the year by Purdon and is unbeaten in her two race day appearances thus far.

“She is a smart filly and a horse who is well above average and probably the first time she will be overly tested is when she has to race the best age group horses. I think she will be very hard to beat,” he said.

FORTIFY REPLAY

Race four will see the second up run of the well-bred son of Sweet Lou, Dare Devil, who has had some time to forget about a torrid run first up at the end of last month and will be looking to get his campaign back on track with a better performance.

“He has bounced back really good, and it’s probably been around three weeks between runs. I think he is fit and ready to go. It’s probably a grade he shouldn’t have to tackle just yet with a couple rated in the low 60’s whereas he is rated a 49.

“I think he will run an honest race but there are probably a few who will outclass him on the night,” he said.

Rounding out the team will be the resuming last start G1 New Zealand Oaks placegetter, Paramount Empress (Muscle Hill), in race five.

The blue blood mare has shown immense promise in her limited six start career which has yielded three wins and two placings, with Purdon anticipating a bright campaign on the horizon.

“She is quite a nice mare and has certainly strengthened up a lot this time round and is a lot stronger and more improved horse this season,” he said.

At the conclusion of tomorrow night’s meeting at Addington, Purdon will jump on a plane headed for Cambridge Raceway where he and his father line up three runners in the first million-dollar race in New Zealand harness racing since Monkey King’s 2009 New Zealand Cup.

The young trainer has contested some of Australasia’s biggest features in his budding career but admits to be buzzing with anticipation for what promises to be an epic clash of Open Class talent.

“For sure, it doesn’t get any better than that having a million-dollar race in New Zealand and I’m sure it will be a great spectacle on the night,” he said.

For complete Addington race entries, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink