By Matt Markham
Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen’s New Zealand Trotting Cup arsenal is about to stretch to four.
Following a strong workout victory at Ashburton this afternoon the former Otago pacer was set to join his elite stablemates, Lazarus, Have Faith In Me and Smolda in next Friday night’s Canterbury Classic at Addington but a change of heart on the way back to Rolleston will see him return to the trials or workouts and then look to kick start his campaign in the Methven Cup.
The patiently handled five-year-old held off the strong challenge of last season’s leading two-year-old pacer, More The Better in the heat after working to the lead and dominating from the 1000 metre mark – running his last 800 metres in 56 seconds.
Rasmussen, who drove the gelding, said the run was exactly what was required and that he had ‘blown up over his back ‘ after the heat suggesting that he will improve with the run.
“He’s in the same place that our others were heading into last week’s race,” Rasmussen said.
“We will go there next Friday night knowing that he is going to improve with the run under his belt.
“He’s such a lovely horse to do anything with, he came to us and you could tell he had been really well trained and looked after.
“He’s going to love it the harder they go out there, there’s some real high speed there as well as his toughness.”
A couple of boxes down from Titan Banner, Purdon was smiling just as broadly as Rasmussen after the run of More The Better.
“He’s gone great, he’s come back up very well and should be in for a pretty big season.”
It was a big day for the All Stars stable with 13 runners entered.
Sires’ Stakes bound pacers More The Better and Ultimate Machete impressed greatly while there were some new kids on the block to get excited about too.
Major Hippie, a three-year-old by Art Major, showed an explosive turn of foot to win impressively while others to salute the judge were Spondulicks, Smiley Sophie and Boults On Fire.
Rasmussen was a very positive after the performance of Ultimate Machete.
“He’s come back in great order,” she said.
“We always thought he would be a pretty nice three-year-old but he needed to step up again to reach the likes of More The Better and I think we are heading in the right direction.”
Later in the day, Zachary Binx readied himself to defend his crown in the DG Jones Banks Peninsula Trotting Cup this weekend with a dour victory over Quite A Moment, Sheemon and Marcoola.
The Ken Ford trained and Amanda Tomlinson driven square gaiter seems his happiest on the grass surface.
“He’s pretty ready for this week now, I’m looking forward to it,” Amanda said.
Her brother Clint was beaming after the run of Marcoola whom he never pulled off the back of Zachary Binx.
“He felt super, and also felt like he could have come out and really sprinted,” he said.
A C5 front on October 14 will be the starting point for Marcoola before the Ashburton Flying Mile, potentially Kaikoura and then the New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All.
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