Milers face daunting task in Taylor Mile

Harness racing trainer Mark Purdon concedes that Akuta (Bettor’s Delight) and Self Assured (Bettor’s Delight) whom he trains with son Nathan are probably running for place money in tomorrow nights $90,000 Group One Dawson Harford Taylor Mile in Auckland.

This is due to the fact that Copy That, (American Ideal) the current dominant force in the open pacing ranks, has drawn gate two.

“I don’t think there’s anything there that’s going to worry Copy That. It looks like he’s going to lead and dominate again. Self Assured will be a place chance at best and Akuta probably a bit the same,” Purdon said.

Both horses competed in The Race by Grins with Self Assured finishing third and Akuta fifth.

“I was happy with both, but Copy That was always going to be hard once he got away with an easy first three furlongs. He ran a great last mile, but we just needed a bit more fireworks early just to soften him a little bit.”

Akuta has raced over 1609 metres four times for three wins and a third. His best time is 1-51.8 which he recorded as a three year old at Nelson.

“I’ve been pleased with his performances but he’s not quite there yet and he hasn’t had a lot of luck either. The balance of the early part of the season up until May will make him for the Spring.”

Self Assured hasn’t done a lot of mile racing but was good enough to overcome gate eight and win the Waikato Flying Mile in 1-52.0 beating Copy That and Akuta. He also won the Hondo Grattan Stakes at Menangle in 1-50.3 but that was more than three years ago.

The race record of 1-52.2 was recorded by last year’s winner Spankem (Bettor’s Delight).

A win tomorrow night by Copy That will take his stake earnings past the two million dollar mark and he’ll be the second horse to win the Taylor Mile twice. Spankem won the group feature in 2019 and 2022.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink