Purdon hoping for one more Inter Dominion miracle

[Wandering Eyes]

by Michael Guerin

Champion trainer Mark Purdon worries he may be all out of Inter Dominion miracles.

Purdon and son Nathan take Oscar Bonavena to Albion Park in Brisbane tonight for the A$500,000 Inter Dominion Trotting Final, the veteran trotter joining fellow Kiwi trotter Bet N Win in giving New Zealand a great chance of winning the 3157m mobile iconic event.

The only problem is Oscar Bonavena has finished just seventh and sixth in his two heats of the series, hardly Inter Dominion winning form, and he will need a special type of form turnaround tonight.

Lucky for him Purdon specializes in Inter Dominion heroics, his history in the Trans Tasman harness racing carnival quite unbelievable.

His first ever Interdom win came as a driver for his late father Roy and brother Barry when Mark Hanover won the Pacing Final at Alexandra Park 34 years ago.

Think what you were doing 34 years ago. That is how long Purdon has been winning Inter Dominions.

Mark trained the trotting series winner three years in a row between 1996 and 1998 with Pride Of Petite twice and Buster Hanover once, Pride Of Petite’s second win in Adelaide one of the most freakish performances in the history of the Inter Dominions.

I Can Doosit went back to back in the Trotters Final for Purdon in 2011-12, while he trained Smolda to come from last to win at Gloucester Park (another miracle) in 2016 before Lazarus beat the Aussies up in the final at the same venue the next year.

In 2019 Purdon doubled down, winning both the Pacing and Trotting Finals with Ultimate Sniper and Winterfell. So if anybody can cajole a tricky trotter into winning tonight it is Purdon.

But even he admits Oscar Bonavena has him flummoxed as Oscar, like many humans, gets more eccentric with age.

“Before last week’s heat he was trotting beautifully at home and I thought he’d win,” says Purdon.

“So to see him trot that badly early stunned me.

“Maybe it is just him being cunning as he has got older and he does serve [impregnate] mares as well as racing and maybe that hasn’t helped his concentration.

“I have no doubts he could win on is best behaviour but he has let me down too many times this last year to totally trust him.”

Oscar Bonavena may be suited by drawing the unruly (second line) tonight in the hope his rivals go hard, struggle with the long distance, and he can swoop late.

That is probably how he is most potent but also a very rare path to winning a major harness race these days.

Bet N Win is therefore the more logical of the two Kiwi hopes, unbeaen in the heats with perfect manners and driver Bob Butt in form.

While New Zealand had no reps in the A$1million Pacing Final (11.10pm NZ time) punters who make it that far into the night will at least get to see a true champion in Leap To Fame, who looks unbeatable on his home track, with Captains Knock the best place bet at $3.

New Zealand is also represented by Captains Mistress in the Queensland Oaks and Rubira for the Purdons in the Queensland Derby.

View the full article