Purdons move north permanently...for now.

[Chief Stipe]

HISTORIC ERA AT ROLLESTON TO END

purdonracing.co.nz

HISTORIC ERA AT ROLLESTON TO END

Feb 11, 2025

The sensationally successful era of the Purdon partnerships at Rolleston is to come to an end with the announcement the Nathan and Mark stable is to shift to Auckland.

The stable will take over the Pukekohe barn formerly operated by Steven Reid in May and expect to be in full operation by June 1.

“Dad had suggested it before but I resisted it because the current setup suited me. But when I was based in Auckland over Xmas with friends and family I began to have a change of heart and just before New Year we started having talks with the Auckland club” Nathan said

“I was a bit worried too that our local owners might resist a major change like that but I have been really surprised at their reaction.Nearly all of them have signed up to it and we should have about 25 horses heading north in May.Its a great boost for us”

Mark Purdon,now based in Matamata, moved south from Auckland in 2000 and began an unparallelled run of success on his own account and then in partnership with Grant Payne,Natalie Rasmussen, Hayden Cullen and finally Nathan.

The Rolleston property, which Mark developed from scratch into one of the finest harness racing establishments in the world after starting out training at Yaldhurst, has been under option for other uses for some time and was due to be handed over in the foreseeable future. It included a straight track that proved a boon to the stable over the years and may other innovations.

“Some of the staff want to remain here because of their ties to Canterbury and you would expect that but I am sure they will not be short of offers given their skills and attitudes. We couldn’t have achieved all this without top staff.

“Now its go I am really looking forward to the challenge” Nathan said “It will be quite different in some ways but great in others. We will still naturally be travelling south for major races when we have the horses to suit.”

“I have enjoyed it here and met some great people but its time to try something new”

The Purdon family emigrated to Canterbury from Scotland early in the 20th century but a branch headed by Hugh Purdon moved north in the 1920’s and then  descended Roy Purdon a legendary trainer in his own right,and his highest achieving sons, Barry and Mark as famous as their father.

Nathan’s brother,Michael, is one of those who will remain in Canterbury developing his own property and interests.

[Brodie]

Going to help the North Island with a few  more horses initially, so that is good!

Will probably clean up you would think?

Going to be very interesting to see how many existing owners in the South actually do stick with the Purdons as some will not want to fly to the North Island to watch them.

I am sure there will be some horses that leave existing trainers and go to Purdons chasing the bigger stakes that are falsely bring provided in  Auckland though.

[curious]

Pardon?

[Chief Stipe]

34 minutes ago, curious said:

Pardon?

Bloody auto spell check.  AI is making it worse.

[Nowornever]

Strange decision in my opinion moving away from the better racing and bigger fields. I compare it to someone like Emma Stuart moving to Tasmania! Why would you!.

Mind you nothing makes sense these days.

[Brodie]

24 minutes ago, Nowornever said:

Strange decision in my opinion moving away from the better racing and bigger fields. I compare it to someone like Emma Stuart moving to Tasmania! Why would you!.

Mind you nothing makes sense these days.

They appeared to be down on numbers compared to what they had when Mark and Nat were training together and winning everything.

I believe that where they are training is going to be developed into sections so that eould be the major reason, I would say?

A bit surprising as it is or was  under the flight path!!

[Chief Stipe]

6 minutes ago, Brodie said:

I believe that where they are training is going to be developed into sections so that eould be the major reason, I would say?

A bit surprising as it is or was  under the flight path!!

Yep being subdivided.  Worth squillions.

[the galah]

1 hour ago, Nowornever said:

Strange decision in my opinion moving away from the better racing and bigger fields. I compare it to someone like Emma Stuart moving to Tasmania! Why would you!.

Mind you nothing makes sense these days.

seems an irony there.

Steven reid moves to canterbury,then the purdons announce a move to train from steven reids fromer barn,at a training centre that the auckland club is desperate to sell,with no guarantee that  any future purchaser will extend a lease to enable training to continue from ,even if it was sold.

Auckland of course does have a future if sensible,realistic decisions regarding future plans , are made by the club and hrnz.

but where's the evidence of anything currently being in place or being sustainable?

What is happening with the pukekohe training centre? How many more millions will the auckland club be in debt before they announce a sale and will the sale price be anywhere near what the original offer was and how many million $, (possibly tens of millions) will hrnz contribute  to help establish a training centre for the pukekohe trainers and will racing continue at alexandra park.And where does that HRNZ money come from? 

All those questions you would think must have been in the back of the minds of the purdons,but they have the luxury of having a big bank balance and can set up there own training facilty down the track i suppose.

But at the end of the day,the purdons have a history of making wise decisions so lets hope they are happy and prosper and contribute as they have previously, to racing in the upper north island.

i would say,they are a definite plus for auckland racing,as auckland harness racing is very much reliant on the professional trainers to provide the horse numbers.

Having said that.  The purdon stable  very much focus on the udr. Last year they lined up 216 starters,and didn't actually make the top 20 trainers nz starters, numbers wise.

 

Edited 23 hours ago by the galah

[Shad]

How did they go with their gallopers they purchased, from memory one by savabeel.

[Chief Stipe]

11 hours ago, Shad said:

How did they go with their gallopers they purchased, from memory one by savabeel.

They are currently two year olds.  However they were bought by Barry Purdon.  

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/24kaa/408 named Yamato Satona has had three trials the most recent one this week (see below).  Trained by Wexford.

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/24kaa/649 unamed.

 

 

[Chief Stipe]

11 hours ago, Shad said:

How did they go with their gallopers they purchased, from memory one by savabeel.

Mark Purdon under the All Stars brand bought 3 yearlings at the 2023 Karaka Sale - they are now 3 year olds.  They were to be broken in by Danny Frye in Canterbury.

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/23kaa/427 named Captain Roy. Trained by Glen Old, Matamata.  9 starts, 12k in stakes, 3 thirds. 

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/23kaa/485 named Our Beau.  Trained by Glen Old, Matamata.  1 start for a fifth.  Been based at Riccarton.

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/23kaa/595 named Diversify  Trained by Glen Old, Matamata.  Hasn't shown much in 4 trials to date.  Shifted from Christchurch to Matamata last September.

 

 

[Spatchcock]

13 hours ago, Nowornever said:

Strange decision in my opinion moving away from the better racing and bigger fields. I compare it to someone like Emma Stuart moving to Tasmania! Why would you!.

Mind you nothing makes sense these days.

This is a very bizzare post. Lets clear a few things up.

1) Victoria is in a massive hole ... their stakes have been slashed across the board - from the top races to the bottom and series like Vicbred and the Breeders Crown. So much so that the big rumour going around is that E Stewart is in fact giving strong consideration to setting up in New Zealand. The irony here is betting and participation at the stakes level has probably plateaued because of her dominance.

2) Moving from Victoria to Tasmania is nothing like Christchurch to Pukekohe.  Yes, it will be smaller fields and less racing, but M & N Purdon don't really race on grass anyway. But the stakes are in fact better in Auckland and there are a glut of feature races, especially through Autumn, when all the open class racing is concentrated here. Tasmania has next to no feature racing.

3) Why would they want to stay with "better racing and bigger fields"?? Surely, if you operate a business, you want to go where the best yields are for you and your clients?

On a side note, I do agree moving specifically to Pukekohe is a bit weird because that track is up for sale so they are only going to have to move again within a few years.

 

[Nowornever]

4 hours ago, Spatchcock said:

Surely, if you operate a business, you want to go where the best yields are for you and your clients?

If the North is where the best yields are then everybody would be moving there. I see the opposite happening. 

[Chief Stipe]

7 minutes ago, Nowornever said:

If the North is where the best yields are then everybody would be moving there. I see the opposite happening. 

Well isn't it easy to work out where the best yield is?

[Nowornever]

For group and feature racing next 16 months 6.5million spread over 64 races in the north vs 9.5million spread over 109 races in the south

[Gammalite]

19 hours ago, Nowornever said:

Strange decision in my opinion moving away from the better racing and bigger fields. I compare it to someone like Emma Stuart moving to Tasmania! Why would you!.

You don't need to move there.

Emma Stewart has actually been sending horses to Tasmania quite regularly lately. (for a few months) 

To get the $9,000 winners prize in low class racing. Sent 3 there last weekend and Mark Yole was driving . They all won very easily , one won, by 7 lengths one went 1.55 😳 . scaring the pants off the locals who cannot compete with that. they paid $1.05, $1.30 and $1.30 lol.

Can't see the sense in the Purdon Move to Pukekohe ? . the Clevedon farm of Roy and Barry's has always been a great facility and Mark would of stayed there with many champs like Adore Me and Lazarus and that over many years.

Why not just stay there still ? unless Dean Shannon has completely filled it with his horses which is a Possibility 😁.

Perhaps Nathan is the next generation Purdon,  that will move in there when Barry and Mark , back right off. In the not to distant future, Mark wanting to 'hang around'  the Waikato already. Don't think Barry has any kids to take over the Clevedon farm. 

[Brodie]

The Franklin stabling will only be a temporary measure, you would think.

Going to be a while till they would need to move out of Franklin when that is eventually sold.

Not totally sure who is the owners of the Rolleston training establishment but you would think that in time sufficient money would become available from the sale proceeds to buy in the North?

That is providing the North is still in operation?

[Shad]

9 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

They are currently two year olds.  However they were bought by Barry Purdon.  

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/24kaa/408 named Yamato Satona has had three trials the most recent one this week (see below).  Trained by Wexford.

https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/24kaa/649 unamed.

 

 

Thanks for the update, 

[the galah]

2 hours ago, Brodie said:

The Franklin stabling will only be a temporary measure, you would think.

Going to be a while till they would need to move out of Franklin when that is eventually sold.

Not totally sure who is the owners of the Rolleston training establishment but you would think that in time sufficient money would become available from the sale proceeds to buy in the North?

That is providing the North is still in operation?

It had been reported some time ago that their property at rolleston had been sold.

The pak n sav next door already has its structure up and they say it will open later in the year and the pak n sav will be the main thing in the new shopping hub there.

Obviously the clock was ticking down on when the move had to be made,so i guess its not like nathan purdon had a choice of staying where he was.

I had read not that long ago that the pukekohe facilities needed quite a bit of money spent on them to bring them up to standard.

But the move north ,whartever way you look at it,is to an area with an uncertain future.

we still haven't had any plans announced by HRNZ as to exactly what plans and alternate plans they may have.

You don't have to be a maths scholar to understand that anyone suggesting the auckland trotting club  will solely finance any new training facility,once pukekohe is sold,is a dunce.

Firstly,will they get near that $90-100m from any future buyer,given many say the original chinese buyers significantly over valued the property.

Then even if they did,any new buyer you would think, wouldn't pay for the property until just prior to taking possessiion.

So given the trainers at pukekohe would have nowhere to train from if a new buyer took possession after a quick sale,then where do all the trainers and horses go.

And if they were able to lease it back for a year or two,then auckland wouldn't get paid for some time and would keep having the reported half a million a month added on to their debt,meaning they would not be able to contribute anything to a new training centre.

Then even if they decided to sell alexandra park,all that takes time as well,but where would the races be held.

And then why would HRNZ come to the rescue.

Hrnz must know,that by putting tens of millions into a new training centre,without a guarantee over total control of the money from the sale of either pukekohe or alexandra park,would really tie south island racing to going  down with the auckland ship.Having said that,they seem happy to fund the inflated auckland stakes with all the $35,000 finals that the south island never get for that5 grade of horse.

And there are other variables that seem obvious,but the next at manawatu's on,thats more interesting than scratching ones head about what goes on in the north island.

Edited 1 hour ago by the galah

[mikeynz]

2 hours ago, Brodie said:

 

Not totally sure who is the owners of the Rolleston training establishment but you would think that in time sufficient money would become available from the sale proceeds to buy in the North?

That is providing the North is still in operation?

Truth be known Purdon may not even have owned Rolleston, may have just been a tenant, irrespective if the complex is so flash would be sad to see it dismembered if that's the case.

Someone will know I guess.

What has happened to Nat Rasmusson ?