By Michael Guerin
Champion trainer Mark Purdon is adamant the setback to Self Assured and Spankem that will see them miss Oamaru on Sunday won’t affect their New Zealand Cup chances.
The glamour pair, winners of an Auckland Cup and Miracle Mile respectively, were both taken out of Sunday’s Hannon Memorial because of minor hoof issues.
Purdon says they are suffering from the bottom of the hooves being sore after one of his tracks has started to become too abrasive recently.
“They hadn’t been bad but Nat (co-trainer Natalie Rasmussen) worked Self Assured on Wednesday and said he didn’t feel perfect and I have had some days like that lately with Spankem,” explains Purdon.
“So we got vet in and had them checked out, including having some x-rays to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong.
There isn’t, it is just the track wearing away at the sole of their hooves and we would hate to go down there and race them when they were more vulnerable to getting a puncture wound or something.”
Purdon says the stable has spent over $10,000 on rubber shavings to go on the track to make it more forgiving to address the problem.
“As for the horses they miss this week but it won’t affect their New Zealand Cup preps because we will out pads on their feet until they are back to normal and they can race like that no issues.
“So they will head to the next Addington open class race in a few weeks.”
The scratching of the Purdon/Rasmussen pair still leaves the Hannon with a strong line-up but now with Classie Brigade as the warm favourite.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
