NZ HARNESS NEWS
Jacob Wallace has landed the plum drive on Accumulator for boss Barry Purdon in the junior drivers’ race at Cambridge tomorrow night.
The well-related pacer has produced two excellent efforts for narrow defeats at Alexandra Park so far this season and looks well-placed to earn a penalty-free win tomorrow night.
Wallace, who spent two years in Queensland before returning at the start of this year, will be looking to add a third New Zealand win to his lifetime tally of 15.
“He should be pretty hard to beat,” he said.
“He’s a pretty handy horse to be driving in a boys’ race and with a bit of luck we can get a positive result.”
Despite drawing a wide alley, Wallace knows he has the horse with the speed and toughness to be slotted pretty much anywhere in the running.
“He’s been showing some toughness in his races which gives me some confidence about the wide draw this week.”
Accumulator comes from good stock – he’s a half-brother to champion pacer Christen Me and a full brother to last season’s Auckland Cup winner, Dream About Me.
Purdon bid $120,000 for him at the yearling sales but his breeder, Charles Roberts ultimately retained the ownership and then brought his son, Mark, in to the fold.
Wallace worked for leading trainer Darrel Graham in Queensland and before that got his grounding with Tony Herlihy.
With most of this year under his belt at Purdon’s, he is enjoying quite the tutelage.
But the one-meeting-per-week lifestyle of Auckland is a far cry from the races-most-days rigours of Queensland.
“It’s a lot different in Aussie; it was a bit of an eye-opener.
“It’s a lot easier for junior drivers over there – there are a lot more opportunities because there are so many more races.
“But it’s pretty hard to get going back here.”
That being said, he is in the right barn to make an impact this season.
“It’s a bit of a bummer that some of Barry’s good four-year-olds (Jack’s Legend, Raptors Flight, Maheer Mister, Opoutama) are too highly rated for juniors races, but hopefully there will be a lot of good drives to come from here.
“I’m the only junior driver here now so hopefully if I stick at it and keep the boss happy, the opportunities will come.”
The feature race on the night sees a small but select field of three-year-olds clash in the first Sires Stakes Series heat of the season.
Last start Breeders Crown winner King Of Swing resumes six weeks after his Group 1 triumph, attempting to become the first horse to do the double and win both Series.
His main opposition will come from Accumulator’s stablemate, Mach Shard, and Alta Maestro, who was mightily impressive winning his resumption at Alexandra Park last Friday night for Robert Dunn.
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