Trained a winner with his last runner

Harness racing trainer Hayden Cullen made his last runner under his own training account a winner when potential star pacer Franco Indie easily beat a tidy field at Addington last Friday night.  Cullen will link up with Mark Purdon this Friday 1st October for a short-term partnership.

Last Friday, Franco Indie (Always B Miki) broke the clock with his impressive winning performance, running the fastest equivalent mile of the night (1:54.1) and also the fastest equivalent 800m (53.74) according to the Addington Stridemaster stats and he looks a future star in the making.

Cullen indicated all was well with Franco Indie after his fresh up victory and said he will head to the first Sires Stakes Heat on 7th October in an attempt to qualify for the final to be run in November.

“Tango (Franco Indie) has pulled up well after his lovely fresh up win,” Cullen reported on the weekend.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better first up run and looking forward to Sires Stakes Heat in approximately 2 weeks time.”

“As he was our last runner under our banner of “Cullen Racing Stables”, it was a great way to go out.”

Mark Purdon who drove Franco Indie to his Friday night win will be in partnership with Cullen for three months from 1st October before Purdon’s partner Natalie Rasmussen re-joins him in fulltime training from January 1, with Cullen reverting to being their stable foreman from that point.

Since taking over the powerful stable of Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen in January this year, Cullen has trained the winners of 55 races from 215 starters with winning stakes of over $1.7Million.

The new Cullen/Purdon team have their first chance for a win this Friday night when Self Assured begins his preparation for a defense of the New Zealand Trotting Cup. Self Assured is following a similar path to last year when he contests the Lamb and Hayward Canterbury Classic, a race he won last year on his way to winning the 2020 New Zealand Trotting Cup.

Harnesslink Media