Merlin conjures more magic in Harness Million final

Merlin (Art Major) and Zachary Butcher conjured up plenty of magic to ensure they remained unbeaten on an epic Friday night (Oct. 14 ) of harness racing at Addington Raceway.

Premiere night at headquarters always brings out the stars of the track, and few shone brighter than the Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan-trained juvenile.

The rich NZB Standardbred Final for two-year-old colts and geldings drew a stellar field, with the resulting barrier draws asking plenty of the big guns looking to take home the riches of the yearling sales feature.

The rich $200,000 final was the first showdown between the countries leading North and South Island juveniles and barring a dead heat, one of the unbeaten pair in Merlin and Don’t Stop Dreaming (Bettor’s Delight) were going to taste defeat for the first time. With barrier and eight and 15 respectively, pundits were left to wonder whether both would have to fall on their sword.

Merlin had the tactical advantage of drawing the front line, and despite being the widest on the gate showed blazing gate speed to drive across the field and wrestle the lead off another of the North Island hopefuls with the Kyle Marshall trained Son Of Mac (American Ideal) on his best behaviour and landing an early trail behind the race favourite.

Butcher and Merlin dictated from the top while the ‘blue army’ of Vinke B (Vincent), OK Boomer (Bettor’s Delight), Final Collect (Art Major), and Dont Stop Dreaming all took turns at working forward and into the one out running line in the early running.

Butcher was able to pinch some cheap fractions with his main danger happy to sit just off his wheel, but let rip with his charge at the 400m, rattling home in 26.5 off the front to outsprint his opposition and make it eight from eight in the process.

MERLIN REPLAY

Dont Stop Dreaming was brave to get within half a length of the winner and was far from disgraced in second, with a neck back to Son Of Mac who was excellent in third.

The race time for the 1980m journey was 2:25.7 with the mile rate 1:58.3.

Harnesslink’s roaming reporter, Bruce Stewart, was on track to get the thoughts of the elated pair of Butcher and Phelan post-race.

“It was a good run you know; he’s got that speed early which really helps,” said Butcher

“Being able to cross them early rather than having to work hard at the 600m is a big asset. He’s found the front pretty easy, got some great middle sectionals and made it very tough for anyone else to pick him up,” he said.

The win of Merlin in the rich sales series final was the first time Butcher had won the juvenile feature having finished second behind Sky Major back in 2013. Stewart asked Butcher if he could remember the first time he sat behind the superstar son of Art Major and what his thoughts were early on his education.

“I messaged a few of my friends after the first time I drove him at the trials and told them I think we have one we can beat Mark (Purdon) with in a couple of years. He’s beaten everything so far and we’ve got to keep beating them obviously, but he gave me a super feel from day one, he has so much speed and to be a good horse and to beat the good ones you have to have speed on your side,” he said.

Asked if he felt any pressure driving a horse with a picket fence form line, Butcher was honest is his refreshingly honest with his assessment.

“It’s pretty never wracking to be honest,” he laughed.

“You want to keep doing the right job by the owners and obviously Barry and Scotty, but hey, the horse does all the work for me, and the team up North does all the hard work. I get the easy job of just jumping on him on race day and trying to point him in the right direction. That is the easy part of it, and I’ve just got to enjoy the ride.

“You have to have the horse in between the shafts and I’m just grateful for that. Hopefully he can go all the way, we’ll just have to wait and find out,” he said.

It’s been almost 30 years between drinks for master trainer Barry Purdon with the last time he had won the feature being back in 1996 with Gran Montana (Soky’s Atom).

His training partner Scott Phelan was clearly a happy man having secured the biggest win of his career to date.

“It was a great drive. Zac put him in the right position as we always expect him to do and he pulled it off which is a great achievement, we’re really wrapped,” said Phelan.

“He’s always been a pretty decent horse, even as a yearling, he’s always shown that speed the good horses need. Dean (Shannon) picked him out well and he’s just left it to us, and we’ve just left it to the horse, and he’s done it himself,” he said.

Phelan who was piloting another stable runner in Gandalf (Captaintreacherous) was buried three back on the markers having drawn the pole and being beaten for speed. The pair battled on well into sixth with the only benefit being Phelan had a prime viewing spot to watch his stable charge get the spoils.

“I could see Zac was getting away with it because my horse was getting a bit keen. Credit to the horse, he’s a pleasure to do anything with and was so relaxed out there.

“We spoke to Zac and the key to the race was probably staying front of Dont Start Dreaming and it paid off.

“He’s got the Sires Stakes final on Cup Day, he will probably just have a little trial before that, but I will go back and ask Barry what he thinks. I reckon he will be cheering his butt off on the couch at home at the moment,” he laughed.

Stewart repeated the question to Phelan about whether he felt any pressure having a superstar juvenile in the barn with an unbeaten record. It drew a different answer but echoed the sentiments of Butcher in that the team behind Merlin are happy to be riding the wave of excitement.

“Not really, we are just really excited about the horse. It’s great having Dean as an owner because he doesn’t put any pressure on you. We know it’s probably coming to an end one day, but you just have to be excited about these moments because they don’t come around too often.

“It was a long trip down, but he will definitely improve off this week, but look he just takes everything in his stride and that’s probably the best thing about him,” he said.

Merline was bred by Todd and Fleur Anderson from Winton under their Taffy Ltd breeding moniker and is rich reward for the couple who are starting to reap the rewards of their significant investment in the breeding sector.

The win of Merlin capped a fantastic night for the Purdon/Phelan barn with the training partnership getting the quinella in the $75,000 Harness Million final for two-year-old trotters.

Southern Diamond (Creatine) and Zachary Butcher were able to run past the stablemate Halberg (Father Patrick), who was brave after sitting parked for much of the 1980m journey.

SOUTHERN DIAMOND REPLAY

Southern Diamond was bred by Dave and Dawn Anderson of Beaudiene Breeding Ltd with their first foray into the trotting ranks proving to be awfully successful with the up-and-coming Benny And The Jets (Quaker Jet) also showing above average ability being out of the same dam, Ugly Betty (Earl).

There was only a half head splitting the pair in the finish, with the result setting up what promises to be some spirited competition in the 2yo trotting features to come in the remainder of the season.

For complete Addington Raceway results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink