Harness maestro has weekend to remember

[Wandering Eyes]

Harness Racing legend Barry Purdon had a weekend to remember.

On Friday he made a winning return to the sulky, following a six-year hiatus, when piloting Group One-performing trotter Higher Power to victory at Alexandra Park, and on Sunday, his famous silks were to the fore once again, but this time in the thoroughbred code, when his exciting galloper Yamato Satona scored on debut in the opening race at Arawa Park for trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott.

Purdon was trackside in Rotorua with his wife Katrina, who shares in Yamato Satona’s ownership, along with good friend and stable client Dean Shannon.

“It was a great thrill,” Barry Purdon said. “We went down there and we weren’t expecting to see what we saw, but it was great.

“Lance and Andrew have always liked him, so that is always a good sign.”

The 70-year-old horseman was also pleased to return to the driving ranks on Friday night, and he is looking forward to frequenting the track more often this season.

“It was great, I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I had a pretty nice horse to drive and it was good to get out there again.

“I have been driving quite a bit of track work lately since I had that bit of bad luck with my hip, and I feel good again.”

The Purdon surname is synonymous with harness racing, with Purdon and his late father Roy dominating the New Zealand training ranks for several decades, winning every premiership bar one between 1976 and 1996. His brother Mark has dominated the sport in recent times, winning 14 trainers’ premierships since 2000, and he has also started to train a few thoroughbreds from his new Matamata base.

In the nineties, harness racing royalty teamed up with thoroughbred racing royalty when Purdon raced several thoroughbreds with Paul and Dave O’Sullivan at Wexford Stables, and the association has continued for more than 30 years.

“We had a horse with Paul and Dave O’Sullivan called Most Happy Fella in about 1995,” Purdon said. “There has been a bit of a lull, but we usually have had a horse with them.”

Purdon also dabbled in training the odd thoroughbred himself and recorded his sole thoroughbred training success in the 2011/12 season.

“I trained a couple (of thoroughbreds) for a little while,” he said. “We managed to get a winner at Pukekohe with a little horse called Maverick. It took a lot of time when you have the harness horses too.”

Last year, Purdon was looking to purchase another thoroughbred to race and went to Karaka in search of his next horse, and Yamato Satona, a Satono Aladdin colt in Rich Hill Stud’s draft, caught his eye.

“I first saw him on a video when I was looking at all of the yearlings, and I really liked him,” Purdon said. “When I saw him in the flesh, I really liked him as much, if not more.

“He was a kind horse, a little bit timid, but he had a great attitude. He was in and out of the box because he was quite popular and I just liked his temperament.

“The Satono Aladdins are pretty nice horses and he is out of a Commands mare, and he was a pretty good stallion himself.”

Purdon was delighted to secure the colt with a final bid of $250,000, and subsequently placed him in the care of Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott at Wexford Stables in Matamata.

“We paid a bit of money for this guy and I just wanted to make sure that everything was done right, and one of those was to make sure he went to Lance and Andrew because he would get every opportunity,” Purdon said.

And his colt has been given just that, placing in three trials before winning his last trial over 1000m at Arawa Park last month, and he won on debut like a horse with a bright future, a view shared by co-trainer Andrew Scott.

“We were really pleased, he settled in well, stayed the 1400m and for an inexperienced young horse to quicken in the manner he did, we couldn’t be happier,” he said.

“He’s put in a performance that suggests he has good levels of ability and where we go to from here, we’ll let the dust settle over the next few days.

“Hopefully he has a good summer ahead of him, as his experience levels increase, his confidence will come with it and once he gets out to a mile, he’s certainly going to have a successful season.”

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