Les Purdon’s long wait for a Derby runner is over

Well known Pukekohe harness racing identity Les Purdon has been around horses all his life, and has seen and done just about everything there is to do with an industry that has given him and his family great success.

In tonight’s (Mar. 24) G1 $135,000 Great Northern Derby however, Purdon ticks off a bucket list item having his first runner in a Derby when the Steven Reid and Simon McMullen trained, Lou Baby (Sweet Lou), greets the starting gait.

Making the moment just that bit more special is the fact that Purdon was once in a training partnership with a bright eyed and bushy tailed Reid for three seasons spanning the 1988-1990 racing seasons.

“We have had some fun over the year together, Steven and I,” said Purdon.

“He has always had a great natural talent with the horses and him and Simon do a great job together now. He’s got a big opinion of this horse and whether a race like this is six months too early for him remains to be seen but it’s great to have one in a big race like that in Steven’s colours,” he said.

Lou Baby was a was a $10,000 yearling sales purchase back in 2021 out of the Woodlands Stud draft in Karaka.

He was purchased on a whim with two of the best eyes in the business for spotting a horse on type pooled resources to secure him having not sighted the horse until moments before he went to auction.

“What actually happened was I saw him walking into the ring on my computer,” said Purdon.

“I happened to ring John Curtin up because Lou Baby is out of his old Excuse family going right back to My Excuse with JC has bred a number of foals from many years ago. I said by golly I really like that horse and he said he would check it out for me.

“When he rung me back, he told me I own him,” laughed Purdon.

Lou Baby was bred by Dr Andrew Grierson out of the Mach Three mare, Mach’s Excuse. Curtin has bred four foals from her dam, Precious Excuse at the turn of the century, including a three-win full sister to Lou Baby’s dam who Steven Reid trained before being exported to Australia.

The family produced one of the first great horses Curtin exported to North America in D.B Bopper, before the likes of the late Ollie Haine got involved with the breed, later producing dual New Zealand Cup winner Just An Excuse among many top horses from the family.

It came as little surprise to Purdon that the horse has inherited some of the family traits.

“Matty White broke him in and got him running along and when he was going to head to Australia, we bought him up and gave him to Steven Reid. Steven started working him and the first thing he said to me was that he improved every day he got in the cart. Steven has a very high opinion of him.

“He really needs a bit more time, he is just a very overgrown and he is the sort of horse who is just running on his own ability. He is going out in the paddock after tomorrow night’s race which is just what he needs to mature and develop and go on with what he has shown us thus far,” he said.

On paper, it would be easy to assume that Lou Baby who has drawn poorly in barrier 13 is just there making up the numbers. But on closer inspection, it is apparent that this is a pacer with a bright future.

Just two starts ago, Lou Baby and Andre Poutama smashed the clock in leading up and running a blistering 2:38.5 with a 1:55.9 mile rate in winning his second race at just his eighth attempt. On that night he accounted for the talented Midfrew Lucre and intermediate grade pacer, Nelson’s Boy.

LOU BABY REPLAY

Last week in the first Sires Stakes heat over the same distance, Lou Baby was eased off the gait with a heap of pressure coming from the front line of pacers that included most of the make up for tonight’s G1 feature.

After being forced back to last in the 13-horse field, with what transpired, it was little more than a training run for Lou Baby who was last on the markers turning for home, before running through the line like a horse who will appreciate the 2700m before him this evening.

“There is no doubt about the fact he will relish the extra distance tonight,” said Purdon.

“I was a little bit disappointed with the other night with him getting back so far off the gait. It’s very hard to win races from back in the field when even the maidens are running home in 26, so you can’t be sitting last and expect to finish in first. It just isn’t going to happen.

“When I was driving you had never heard of a quarter in that sort of time and now the 2YO trotters are getting close to it. It’s just unbelievable,” he laughed.

“He hasn’t had all favours on race day with some tough trips against good opposition. The few times he has had all favours he has shown his real ability.

“It is exciting, and he has really given me a lot of fun. He’s an honest horse and we haven’t had a lot of luck with him, but that can happen.”

Although Les only trained a tenth of the winners his legendary brother Roy prepared in his time holding a trainer’s license, his record is one that stands upon itself and is littered with many top horses in his own right.

On a night that features the G2 Cardigan Bay Stakes, when clicking on the race history, a young man realises that Les Purdon drove the third ever winner of the race back in 1978 when Del’s Trophy (Birdie Hanover) won what was then called the First Dominion Breweries Mobile Stakes.

“He won about five or six in a row I believe, and Arthur Crosse trained and owned him,” said Purdon.

“I don’t really remember much about it, it was just another race really,” he laughed.