Imagine the feeling of training your first racehorse.
The thrill, the excitement and the anticipation would be extreme.
Imagine if your first racehorse was a dual Group 1 victor, a two-time Derby winner.
This is the situation that Nathan Purdon faces this weekend as he has officially taken over the preparation of star pacer Ohoka Punter who makes his Brisbane debut at Albion Park this Saturday night in the Lunchbox Lodge Spelling Farm Open Pace.
Purdon is no stranger to working with top pacers, his father Mark prepares the most powerful stable in the southern hemisphere and while Nathan moved to Australia over twelve months ago to gain more experience, he hasn’t trained a racehorse in his own name.
Ohoka Punter will start from gate five in the 1660m sprint and takes on dual Queensland Horse of the Year Avonnova who has drawn the second-line.
Ian Gurney prepares Avonnova and also employs Purdon at his Chambers Flat stables to assist with the training of his racing team.
Imagine the pressure facing Purdon.
But the likeable young horseman is looking forward to the challenge.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to train a horse of this calibre and I’m most appreciative that connections have shown the faith in me to train a horse like this, he’s here for the winter carnival and this is the first step in this preparation.” Purdon said.
Ohoka Punter is co-owned by his former trainer/driver Tony Herlihy, the uncle of Nathan.
The Bettors Delight – Millwood Minisota entire has not started since finishing a close second behind Yankee Rockstar in the Kilmore Cup back on March 19.
And Purdon has resisted the temptation of giving him a public trial.
“He’s got plenty heading his way in the coming months and his foundation was very good so I thought he didn’t need a trial, he’ll race his way into fitness and he’ll be spot on by the big races in July.
“He keeps himself in very good shape plus his work at home is very good. Ian has plenty of open class horses in his care and we’ve got a good guide on where they need to be before going to the races so I’m happy with where he is at right now.
“The draw gives me an obvious advantage on Avonnova and my horse has gate speed so we’ve got options. I think he’ll be very competitive and he’ll improve greatly on whatever he does this weekend.”
With a number of new open class features scheduled by Racing Queensland in the coming months, Purdon will have every opportunity to plot a path to the main event on July 16, the Gr.1 $200,000 Blacks A Fake.
Avonnova ventured to the Albion Park trials on Tuesday afternoon and looked sharp winning the 1660m workout in a time of 1:54.
The free legged pacer has improved following his first-up effort when 5th behind stablemate Ideal Scott at Albion Park on April 27.
“He’s trained on really well since his first run back last month and the trial showed he coming on at the right time, the bigger races are still a few weeks away but I’m very happy with him right now.” Gurney said.
“The draw is not ideal but I’ll leave that to Shane (Graham – driver) to work out but I think he’ll be pretty close to them this weekend.” He added.
Three races carry automatic entry into the Gr.1 $200,000 Blacks A Fake this year, the $30,000 Lucky Creed (June 18) followed by the $30,000 Wondais Mate (June 25) and the $25,000 Mr Feelgood (July 2).
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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