Like most people in Auckland, visiting harness racing trainer Mark Purdon is over the weather and looking forward to returning home to Canterbury.
āYou think youāre in for a nice day but by nine oāclock itās clouded over and the clouds are getting blacker and youāre in for squally showers all day,ā he said.
Purdon, who returns to race night driving tomorrow night, has been campaigning horses in the north since the middle of February. Heāll be heading home after the Auckland Cup and Rowe Cup night at the Park next Friday.
The wet weather has led to some of his team getting greasy heel.Ā Ā
āThe horses are okay. Youād rather not be dealing with it but you canāt get away from it.ā
Weather aside, Purdon and his son Nathan have some strong winning chances across the feature races.
In the $40,000 IRT Young Guns Trotters Series Final the training partnership has two quality fillies in We Can Have It All (Volstead) and High Step (Father Patrick).
Purdon says you can āput a line throughā both of We Can Have It Allās starts.
āShe shouldnāt have broken at her last start. It was just her inexperience when the horse out in front of her broke and she went out in sympathy. At home and in work sheās generally a pretty solid trotter. If everything went to plan Iād be surprised if anything went wrong. Blair (Orange) was happy with the way she was travelling before that happened. Gauging my two on their work thereās not too much between them.ā
Purdon was happy with High Stepās debut right handed at Alexandra Park last Friday.
āI think Moonstone (Monkey Bones) is going to be the horse to beat but High Step is in a good place and has trained on well since that last run. Just looking at Moonstone after her race sheās very imposing and very strong for a two year old trotter.ā
The $45,000 Listed Roy Purdon Memorial Handicap named after Markās father is the feature pace on the programme and the stable is represented by Self Assured (Bettorās Delight) and Akuta (Bettorās Delight) both of which will start off the 20 metre mark.Ā
āI think Self Assured is in a slightly better place than Akuta. His training has been really really good, and he has thrived since heās been up here. Itās only a small field and thatās a help because over 2200 metres you need a little bit of an advantage. He was good enough to win it last year and I think heās in as good a place this year to perhaps do it again.ā
Purdon has been very conscious of looking after Akuta on this trip, knowing heās a young horse facing the FFA grade for the first time.
āThe Race by Grins, the Taylor Mile were both hard races, so I thought having some time off was a good opportunity just to freshen him up. Heās freshened up nicely and is working well but if I had to pick between the two of them itād be Self Assured.āĀ
The HR Fisken and Sons 2023 Anzac Cup has drawn an even field and without the might of Muscle Mountain (Muscle Hill) thereās more than a handful of winning chances including the Purdon runner Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son) who ran a creditable third at his last start.
āItās a pretty even field on paper. Iām very happy with Oscar and the way heās trained since his last run, he seems to be in a pretty good place. Itās a twelve horse field and heās off a twenty metre handicap which wonāt be easy. I think if he gets any sort of drag into the race, heāll certainly make his presence felt.ā
The $130,000 Group One Magness Benrow Sires Stakes Three Year Old Fillies Final will be dominated by the exceptional three year old filly Millwood Nike (Captaintreacherous) who has the draw to lead.
āSheās in as good a place as she was last start. She appears to be a class above her rivals. This race caps off the first part of her season and going for fourteen (wins) itāll be nice if she can pull it off.āĀ
The Purdon barn also has Fortify (Bettorās Delight) which draws gate four, and Mon Lancome (Captaintreacherous) which will start from gate six.
āFortify is going well and is a good place chance but Millwood Nike is a class above my other two runners.ā
The action packed night of premier racing at Alexandra Park gets underway at 5:28pm with coverage on Trackside One.
byĀ Bruce Stewart,Ā for Harnesslink