YEAR: 2010 Week after week, Mark Purdon gets to sit behind some serious horseflesh. And for that reason, the uneducated amongst us might think it's 'easy' for him to drive as many winners as he does - and that he doesn't have to bring much to the table himself. But even the harshest armchair critic couldn't help but be impressed by the role Purdon played in winning the $80,000 Stallion Station NZ Welcome Stakes at Addington last Friday night, because it was a display of sheer split-second brilliance. Purdon was on the hot favourite Major Mark, and after drawing the inside of the second row in the Group 1 feature he could forsee two things happening...firstly that the horse he followed out, Amazing Art, would lead; and secondly, his driver Robbie Holmes would more than likely take a trail behind something soon afterwards, leaving Major Mark three-deep and needing luck. It's what any rival would have done in the same situation, and it is exactly how things went over the early stages - Amazing Art handed up to Night Of The Stars as the field turned into the straight the first time, and Purdon was suddenly in a precarious position, his chances of winning the 1950m left in fate's hands. Unbeknown to most though, Purdon was actually more concerned about holding his position on the back of Amazing Art. "On two previous occasions when I'd asked him to run early he'd gone rocky. I didn't want us to be any further back," he said. Safely through that hurdle, Purdon had no choice but to sit and play the waiting game as the race unfolded; 400 metres from home, he knew he was in trouble. "Everything else around me was flat," he said. But my fella was still in third gear. even as far back as that I didn't think we'd get a run." Sticking to 'Plan A' and following Amazing Art into the passing lane, Purdon's one remaining hope was that his talented rival might ease out just enough to allow him and Major Mark through. That he did, inside the final 100 metres, but no sooner had Purdon pushed the accelerator on his Art Major colt in tight quarters when the unthinkable happened - Art Major's sulky wheel jammed inside Amazing Art's. It should have been enough to give the latter a well-constructed victory in the Welcome Stakes, but somehow Purdon managed to drag the horse back, unhook the sulky wheels and then extract one last-ditch lunge to snatch victory right on the line. In his typically reserved manner, Purdon opted to praise his horse rather than pat himself on the back. "Amazing," he said, adding that he thought the winning post was coming up too soon. "I've never driven one that's been able to pick himself up and dive like that. Even as far as four hundred metres out, if you lock wheels or lose momentum for any reason, normally that's it." If anything, Major Mark's performance on Friday was an indication that he had turned the corner again and reclaimed his title as the season's top 2-year-old. After all, this is the same horse that trailled in the Sapling Stakes at Ashburton on February 13 yet couldn't get near the eventual winner Terror To Love, finishing nearly three lengths away in third place. "He obviously just wasn't a hundred percent on the day," Purdon said, not being able to put it down to anything else. "One of his owners said to me at the time that he didn't seem to have his usual shine in his coat or that sparkle in his eye. And I see him every day, so I suppose it was a bit harder for me to notice any difference." "Tonight was his most tradesman-like performance so far though, because he just didn't do a thing wrong out there. Obviously he's one of the best 2-year-olds we've had. There's just an 'X-factor' about him. He's got a brilliant turn of foot, but is also a really great stayer. He's got the all-round game." Purdon's and Grant Payne's stable has been in sparkling form over the last couple of weeks. On the first night of the Easter Cup Carnival they won races with Russley Rascal, I Can Doosit and Sleepy Tripp, the last Friday they won five more - Addington wins by Major Mark, Emma Hamilton and Pocaro being matched by further victories at Alexandra Park with Lancome and Joyfuljoy. Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 14Apr10 YEAR: 2011 Steven Reid has never thought of himself as superstitious. But when it comes to his horse Gold Ace, all the signs suggest he's wrong. Take an occasion back in early February for example. reid was across the Tasman compaigning Gold Ace in the Victorian Derby Series at Melton's Tabcorp Park. On the day of the Final, he and his wife Wendy entered one of the malls in Melbourne looking for a spot to stop for lunch when all of a sudden they came across a big, bold billboard advertising the 'Sushi Sushi' chain of food outlets. Reid says it stood out like a beacon, and right then and there he got the premonition that a horse with the same name would triumph that night. His hunch came true. Fast forward to last Saturday, and Reid awoke from an early afternoon snooze on the couch of his Addington motel to hear the last few seconds of a galloping event at Riverton beaming from the television. "...and Hill Of Gold is going to run away and score..." went the dulcet tones of commentator Dave McDonald. 'Hey', he thought at the time, 'that's the same name as the mother of our bloke - that has to be an omen for tonight'. Not wanting to tempt fate before the race, Reid only told a select few about what he hoped would be an uncanny coincidence. As the field for the $200,000 Southern Demolition & Salvage NZ Derby took their positions behind the mobile, Reid glanced across the track at the semaphore board to see Gold Ace had closed at $5.80 on the tote. Knowing that the Bettor's Delight colt was over a respiratory infection that caused him to run a below-par sixth in Sushi Sushi's Victorian Derby Final - the same health scare that saw him also struggle into sixth a month later in the Northern Derby Prelude once back home, forcing his withdrawal from the Alexandra Park Final - the Pukekohe trainer regretted not opening his wallet, if only for a split second. "I was very confident," he said. "But I only said it privately to a couple of people. I've never backed him yet, not once - not even when he won at Cambridge and paid thirteens. So I didn't want to start changing things now." Superstition or not, Reid got the result he longed for when Gold Ace won his home stretch battle with the favourite Terror To Love and edged clear near the line. The latter had gotten to the lead early from a similar second-row draw, while Gold Ace and driver Peter Ferguson dodged trouble at the start and joined the three-wide train starting the last lap, ranging up outside him before the 800m pole. "The first part of the race definitely panned out well for us," Reid said, referring to the early gallop of Empyrean which checked Major Mark and saw the Purdon/Payne runner stuck wide without cover for the last half. Had that not happened, it definitely would've been a three-way slog up the home straight." Prior to this season, Reid had never trained the winner of a 3YO Sires' Stakes Final or NZ Deby; now Gold Ace has given him both. "I've run second in the race twice," he said, remembering Monkey King's nose defeat to Pay Me Christian in 2006 and Bailey's Dream going under by a length to Badlands Bute a year earlier. What makes it more special is having my wife and our kids Matthew (18) and Isabella (13) here tonight, because they haven't all been down since I ran second with Monkey in the NZ Cup. But just having this horse right again is a big buzz as well. When we arrived tonight h was pushing Simon (McMullan) all over the place and half-pie trying to take off, yet when we put him in his stall he went to sleep." Following the $40,000 Group 2 Flying Stakes and the Harness Jewels Emerald in early June, Reid says he'll more than likely take Gold Ace across the Tasman for the Breeders' Crown and then give him a "massive break" - leaving his 4-year-old resumption as late as 2012. "This horse's improvement between two and three has been immense. At two he was a notch below the good ones but at three he's lifted to what is possibly the best. Don't get me wrong, I think Terror To Love is a great horse - and because the two remaining races they'll meet in are sprints, it's going to come down to the draws. If Terror To Love draws well and we don't, we probably can't beat him. And Vice Versa if it's the other way round. What would make it interesting is if we both draw bad." Another hunch? Only time will tell... Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 28Apr2011 YEAR: 2011 There was a bonus of dramatic proportions for those lucky enough to be at Addington on the loveliest of Autumn days last Saturday. They saw the wickedly talented Carabella wave goodbye to 12 others in the Nevele R Fillies Final, they again watched Flying Isa dominate the trotting 2-year-olds and record his fourth successive win, but none came with the back-of-the-bunch brilliance that catapulted Western Cullen to a dashing win in the PGG Wrightson Sales Series Open Division Final. But in reality that was no more than a stunning sideshow. The main act came from two 3-year-olds in the Group 2 Vero Flying Stakes, usually the warm-up to the New Zealand Derby. It was a surprise to get a finish this good, but Gold Ace and Terror To Love made the race an unforgettable exhibition of spirited comptition. They started the home run with Gold Ace moving powerfully past the others, the hunting Terror To Love clearing his back to challenge on the right. They ran past the empty public grandstand where 20 years ago young and old would have paid for the privilege of seeing a fascinating tussle between the pair. The bay horse, closer to black than brown, soon narrowed the gap and levelled. Gold Ace was ready for him, rallied, and fought him long and hard. That was just when it seemed Terror To Love had managed to get the better of him. By now the heat of the battle had less than a second to run. Gold Ace had it...then he might've. And soon doubt. Terror To Love had pushed right on the line. Close? This was a measure in millimetres. No-one knew it moreso than Mark McNamara, who in the commentary box gamely went for a dead-heat. These are cheeky calls, but heroic when they come off. This one did. Unseperable. Two truly great horses sharing the triumph. Peter Ferguson, the driver of Gold Ace, used a comfortable cliché when he said it was "great for racing". And that was the truth of it. Jim Curtin eased Terror To Love in the early rush to find the back of Gold Ace. Ferguson was out well and tracked along with the trail on the outer. Curtin was poised to pounce. Gold Ace had the advantage of being in front, Terror To Love the challenge of getting past. "The race was always set up by what they did in the Derby," said Ferguson. He agreed that Terror To Love headed Gold Ace. "I always knew he was there, right behind us. And when he went past, I thought we would run a nice second. Then, inside the last fifty metres, I felt him lift. It was going to be close. And even when it's very close you usually have half an idea who has won, but this time I had none, and neither did Jimmy." Curtin thought the same. "I hope I'd got past him, and I thought I was going to beat him, but horses like that are just so hard to get past." The pair will meet again in the Harness Jewels at Ashburton where both want front line draws and will run smart time if they do. Gold Ace, another siring triumph for Bettor's Delight, had missed at least five days work with a leg injury after his NZ Derby win. Trainer Steven Reid was concerned that any longer would have made him worried, but the recovery happened in good time. The result was one of those occasions that made an Autumn day at Addington one to treasure. Thanks to Terror To Love and Gold Ace, there's no doubt about that. Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 18 May 2011 YEAR: 2011 Young harness racing star Terror To Love stepped onto the track at Addington Raceway tonight considered by many as a boy in a man's world. But for those who ever doubted the talented four year old was deserved of his place at the elite level just yet, they were given a true heads-up with a stunning performance to win tonight's Group 3 Glenferrie Farm Canterbury Classic. YEAR: 2012 2012 RESOURCE RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES SUPERSTARS CHAMPIONSHIP YEAR: 2012 Hands Christian well and truly announced his arrival on to the big stage with a thrilling win in a grand finish to Saturday night's Easter Cup at Addington. Not that the Christian Cullen gelding hasn't been in the limelight since he began his career in earnest as a spring 3-year-old, when it took Gold Ace to narrowly down him in the Sires Stakes, but the more recent version is proving a much more mature model and this was his first G1 win when he has looked fallible at times in the past. "He has been a bit of a late developer, both physically and mentally, but he has shown glimpses of genuine ability at times," said Mark Purdon. "We've had some very big offers along the way, but I'm quite pleased we kept him now," he added. One of those glimpses was at the Jewels last year when Hands Christian split Gold Ace and Terror To Love in a similarily nose and head grandstand finish, but he has sort of been living in their shadow for much of the time. Gold Ace and Terror To Love have seemingly been waging a private war, with the recent Superstars being just a return to their epic encounters as late 3-year-olds, but Hands Christian has always been lurking and on this occasion he beat them both fairly and squarely and on their merits. After bobbling away and missing the start by 10-12 lengths, Hands Christian bided his time towards the tail of the field and he still had only Franco Ledger behind behind him at the 600m. Purdon began his charge soon after and flushed Terror To Love for a drag into the race, but coming wide from so far back hardly seemed a recipe for success at the time. But this had been a solidly run affair on a cool and windy night and the race would be one of quickly changing complexions as class became the biggest factor. Just as the doughty Mah Sish had put Franco Emirate away early in the run home, Gold Ace and Terror To Love loomed alongside and seemed all set to go at it again. For once Terror To Love was obviously going to get the better of Gold Ace, off the back of a kinder trip for a change, only for Hands Christian to bomb them both right on the line. A time of 4:04 was more than respectable in the conditions and Hands Christian had come home in 56 and 27 and change to get around them. "I sort of set him for this when we decided against a start in the Auckland Cup. He was very unlucky in the Superstars when I decided to try for an inside run on the home turn and he never really got clear. I thought we'd wait for Easter when he might have got a bit of a head start on the good ones. Things didn't work out that way, but he still got the job done." This was just another outstanding Premier carnival performance from the all conquering Purdon & Payne stable, a G1 double on Saturday night being complemented by three supporting acts by Trilby, Harrison Maguire and Southwing Arden, and following on from Escapee's Trotting Oaks and Derby double and the quinella in the NZ Derby. The All Stars Stable won 14 races and well over $300,000 in stakes over the three nights, taking their seasonal tallies to 101 wins and $1.85m, the latter figure easily more than twice any other stable. And just to cap things off, the Easter Cup was a race the stable co-sponsored. Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 12Apr2012 YEAR: 2012 2012 MAURICE HOLMES VASE YEAR: 2011 2011 CHRISTCHURCH CASINO NEW ZEALAND TROTTING CUP YEAR: 2013 RICKY MAY - TERROR TO LOVE 2013 YEAR: 2011 2011 NEW ZEALAND SIRES' STAKES 3YO FINAL
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