A couple of northern harness racing’s leading names will be hoping to bookend their weekend with wins, starting at Alexandra Park tonight.
Trainer Barry Purdon and his stable driver Zac Butcher take several leading chances to tonight’s meeting, before Butcher flies to Melbourne to partner Start Dreaming at the Breeders Crown on Sunday.
Fellow trainer-driver Josh Dickie will be even more favoured to secure victories at both meetings, with Motown headlining his charges tonight before Speeding Spur is one of the hottest favourites at Sunday’s mega meeting.
Purdon has spent much of the last 10 days in Melbourne and was thrilled with Start Dreaming’s huge second to arch rival The Orange Agent in her Breeders Crown semi last Saturday.
That enthusiasm was slightly dulled when Start Dreaming drew the second line for Sunday’s A$174,000 final but Purdon still believes she can test The Orange Agent and Ameretto.
“Obviously we would have preferred to draw the front line but a good draw can sometimes work out bad and vice versa,” said Purdon.
“But the main thing is we are thrilled with her and if she gets the right run she can go close.”
Purdon has two-pronged attacks on races four and five at Alexandra Park tonight and rates Kimani (race five) his best chance.
He was a strong second to Motown fresh up last start, will be fitter and has a better draw tonight.
“I think he is a Sires’ Stakes horse and even good enough to make the final of that series so I like him this week,” said Purdon.
He has also Dikerry in the same race and he has come a long way in his first preparation but is probably not as advanced as Kimani.
Purdon finds it hard to split his pair of Love Is A Drug and Hartofdixie in race four, but with the former having a far better draw she looks the better bet.
Dickie can’t wait to get to Melton on Sunday, especially after his father and training partner John reported back from Speeding Spur’s training session on Wednesday.
“Dad took him to Melton and was thrilled with how he worked,” says Josh. “He has a second line draw which could make it tough if Illawong Armstrong leads because it likes to run along.
“But his track work on Wednesday makes me confident we can beat him.” Dickie believes not even a decent rise in class in race nine tonight should stop Motown’s winning run.
“He has improved since his last run and is up to these horses,” he offers. “But he is drawn slightly wide so the start could be interesting.”
He rates Majestic John in race two a huge chance from a perfect draw tonight, especially after he beat better opposition last start.
But talented mare Isa Smiling will need to be on her best behaviour when she returns to a standing start in race eight.
She has a near open class motor but tends to be slow at best and gallop at worst from standing starts so being off the 10m mark with little room to move because of the 20m tapes behind her hardly looks ideal.
Tonight’s meeting features the Island Of Origin series, pitching six of the best drivers from the North and South Island based on where they were born against each other, with the TAB set to take betting on the winning team.
The series, popular with drivers, is slightly skewed by participants having to drive horses they train if they are in the same race, but that plays into Dickie’s hands and he has one of the best books, alongside Tony Herlihy, Matthew Williamson and Ricky May.
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