28 November 2016
By Adam Hamilton
The opening night of Mark Purdon’s Perth raid had it all.
It started with on a high when exciting young mare A Piccadilly Princess escaped a tricky spot to brilliantly win the opening race.
Then came Smolda’s fighting and encouraging second to Bettors Fire in the second Inter Dominion heat.
But the disappointment came Purdon’s buzz four-year-old Mr Mojito, who was crunched in from $3.10 to $2.10 favourite, copped a flat tyre early and was never a factor in the Group 1 McInerney Ford 4YO.
“Someone got on my wheel early and punctured my wheel. I was never a chance after that,” Purdon said.
Purdon essentially eased Mr Mojito out of the race in the final stages to finish 61.1m from the winner in 11th spot.
Mr Mojito gets his chance to bounce back with the 4YO Championship next Friday night and the Group 1 Golden Nugget on December 9.
A Piccadilly Princess’ win was sweet given the controversy of the week when she was balloted out her target race, the $50,000 Norms Daughter.
The daughter of Bettors Delight needed to win last night to be assured of a berth in the remaining feature mares’ race during the Inter Dominion series.
“It was disappointing to miss out on a run in the main race, but I’ve got to say the officials here were great and did everything they could to make sure there was a race she could run in,” Purdon said.
A Piccadilly Princess had a dip for the lead early, but Johnny Disco held the front so Purdon restrained and took the one-one trail on Sprinter.
“We were held-up a bit before the home turn, but she’s so quick. She had them covered quickly when I got her into the open,” Purdon said.
A Piccadilly Princess ran home in 55.5 and 28.1sec to win by 2.1m in a 1min55.4sec mile rate.
Her main Perth target is the $125,000 Group 1 Mares’ Classic at Gloucester Park on Inter Dominion Grand Final night (December 9).
Purdon was pleased with Smolda’s start to the Inter Dominion.
The eight-year-old worked across from a wide draw to find the spot outside the leader and main danger Bettors Fire and fought on well for second in a 1min54.7sec mile rate.
“I was very happy with the run. I was almost able to drop in (to a trail) early and if I did, I think I’d have gone close to winning,” Purdon said.
“He kept coming and was still making ground on the winner on the line.”
The other Kiwi in the Inter Dominion, Franco Nelson, also pleased his caretaker trainer and driver Dexter Dunn with a third to Hectorjayjay last night.
“He ran well. He struggled a little bit around the last bend when they were really sprinting so I might put a pole on him for the next heat (Bunbury on Tuesday),” Dunn said.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
