 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2001
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
 |
| Keith Gibson presents the trophy |
Jo Anne was swift and sure-footed and greatly superior to 11 others in the Roydon Lodge Stud NZ 2yo Trotting Stakes. She was trotting poetry from start to finish and won by half a length short of ten in 2:29.1 for the mobile 1950m.
Northerner Tony H who surprisingly defeated her a fortnight earlier by half a length was never a factor this time after taking too long to start trotting.
Driver Ken Barron was glowing in his praise. "Initially, I compared her with Gees Pride, but she is really a step above that. She has a beautiful gait and has got speed, too. I have not driven one as good at this age before," he said.
Jo Anne is trained at Templeton by Mark Smolenski for Allan, Lorraine and Anya Georgeson. She is by Sundon from Janetta's Pride, a Gee Whiz II mare owned by Keith and Bevan Grice and more recently the dam of a yearling filly by Britewell, a weanling filly by Sundon, and she was served by Sundon last season.
Credit: Harness Racing Weekly 23May01
YEAR: 2001
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
 |
| Dependable beating stablmate All Action Son |
Dependable might have been the name of the horse that won the Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Stakes, but it was 'Mr Dependable' sitting in the sulky behind him.
These days, harness racing has to work awfully hard for every last betting dollar it can get out of the public's pockets, so people like Mark Purdon are what the industry needs and they do it proud; punters know that by backing a Purdon runner they not only get a run for their money, more often than not they are in the money. And that is important.
For those living on the inside of the fishbowl, Purdon's results set the standard for everyone else to aspire to. Since beginning training in the 1995/96 season he has put his name on almost every Group Race trophy there is, but surprisingly, the NZ Trotting Stakes wasn't one of them. Purdon changed that on Saturday night.
Using Dependable's gate speed to hold the lead from their ideal draw, Purdon kept his trotter pinging along like a well-oiled machine and they never looked in danger of defeat. Dependable's time of 3:21.8 was well outside Flame Up's New Zealand record for the distance, but it was fast enough to give Purdon his first victory on 'home' soil since relocating from the North Island. The victory was also notch number 79 in the belt that will win him his second consecutive trainer's premiership, and it wrapped up the 3YO Trotter of the Year title for Dependable.
"He is a lovely horse, and he is very quiet in his work," Purdon says. "I am really enjoying working with him, because when you do things to try and help him he tries to help himself too. We had a couple of wee problems to sort out when he first arrived up in Auckland. To get him to trot better that way round we replaced his bar shoes in behind with pacing shoes that had weight on the outside," he said.
Talking of weight, the strapping son of Sundon looked even bigger and stronger on Saturday and his trainer/driver agreed, believing he was carrying more condition than ever before. Understandably, Purdon is excited about Dependable's potential. "Apart from Pride Of Petite, I have never had a trotter that works as good as him at home. He will go to the spelling paddock for a couple of months now. There are other big 3-year-old races in Australia but they are not until July, which can bugger up your season a bit." Some of the aims Purdon has for Dependable next season include teaching him to relax in the field, because he has done a lot of racing from in front to this point, and giving him experience from standing starts.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 19Apr01