Purdon and Phelan take a sizeable team to the Park

The Clevedon harness racing training partnership of Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan have entered ten horses for Alexandra Park tomorrow night.

Halberg (Father Patrick) and Southern Diamond (Creatine) will square off in the What The Hill North Island Trotting Championship and according to Phelan they’ve both progressed since their first start.

Regarding Halberg he said “I was happy with his run first up. He was solid and did everything right, and he’s improved from that run. I think he’s a nice trotter.”

And in terms of Southern Diamond he said “That was the first time he’s galloped. Zac (Butcher) though it wasn’t the horse’s fault. He made up a stack afterwards. He’s a pretty decent trotter and if he trots all the way they will definitely know he was there.”

Meanwhile star Northern two year old Merlin (Art Major) draws the outside in the Two Year Old Pace and the unbeaten colt looks to be a shots eye in Race Nine. The Purdon-Phelan team also have Gandalf starting in the same race.

“Gandalf (Captaintreacherous) could have gone out of the gate last week, but we choose to go back. We may roll forward early and see what happens. His work has been pretty good, so he won’t be far away.”

Merlin will be up against Gandalf. Phelan said he doesn’t tend to win by much and only does what he has to. But he thinks he’ll be pretty hard to beat.

Comments from Phelan on their other runners on the night:

Race Six: Son Of Patrick (Father Patrick) “It was a good run first up. He got pushed wide from the half and he kept coming to the line. 2200 metres probably doesn’t suit him but if he’s running on, we’ll be happy.”

Race Seven: Bettor Listen (Bettors Delight) “He’s fresh up after a break but it’s not the greatest draw. He’ll need luck but he’s a horse that comes to hand reasonably quickly after his first run. He’ll be a place chance at worst.”

Race Seven: Montana DJ (Captaintreacherous) – best bet outside Merlin and Major Perry. “Its not too bad a draw. The one horse will get out in front of us. He’ll need a little bit of luck but if he gets it, I expect him to be a good chance.”

Race Eight: Raven Banner (Bettors Delight) “He’s generally pretty safe from the stand and he’s not a bad little horse. He’s improved from last time in and even though he’s fresh I expect him to be a good chance.”

Race Ten: Ultimate Missile (Bettors Delight) “He’s improving but this is probably his biggest test. But we’ll get a line on where we are at.”

Race Ten: Major Perry (Art Major) “He’s come back looking great this time and 1700 metres probably suits him. He’s a high speed horse and based on last week’s run he should be hard to beat.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink