By Michael Guerin
Champion harness trainer Mark Purdon has revealed the extent of his thoroughbred training ambitions as his All Stars stable gets ready for its next evolution.
Purdon is in the north this week preparing for the Harness Million meeting at Cambridge on Friday night and will have a small team based here through until Auckland Cup time in late May.
After recently being joined in partnership by his son Nathan he says the most feared stable in harness racing continues to undergo changes as Purdon seeks new professional challenges.
And the biggest of those changes will be Purdon trying his hand at training thoroughbreds, having purchased three yearlings at the recent Karaka sales.
“First and foremost, Nathan and I are in partnership and that isn’t going to change any time soon,” says Purdon.
“But as people have seen over the last few years Natalie (Rasmussen, partner) and I have taken more time away from the business, which last time was to travel.
“I am fully involved back in the business now but Nathan and I have also discussed the future and because I want to spend some more time working on the gallopers or even away from horses in the off season, Nathan and his partner Mikyala (Lewis) officially take over running the All Stars business from April 1.
“That is the start of the new financial year and means the business and things like employment contracts can pass to them but I will still very much be part of the actual training.”
Purdon, who is 58, says that change means Nathan and Mikayla will be in charge of the day to day running of the business side of the stable but with Mark as senior training partner but with the freedom to spend time doing other things, the most obvious being moving into training thoroughbreds.
While he harbours no delusions of challenging Mark Walker or Andrew Forsman any time soon Purdon says his increased interest in the thoroughbred code has come about because of several reasons.
“I think harness racing is facing real challenges and while I still enjoy it I also want to investigate what my future, and that of the boys (Nathan and his other son Michael), may look like,” explains Purdon.
“I really enjoy watching the good gallops meetings and want to be more involved so I bought three yearlings at Karaka and also have a two-year-old that I will train later this season when I get through the major harness races.
“I have applied for my gallops training licence so hopefully they approve it soon.”
Canterbury trainer Danny Frye will break Purdon’s horses in and even do some pre-training if needed but eventually Purdon hopes to be able to do slow work at the All Star’s property where he has treadmills and a straight track, while fast work will be conducted at Riccarton.
“That is obviously a long way off but I have had chats with Samantha Wynne (top Canterbury jockey) about doing some track work riding for me so I am putting plans together.
“It it is exciting, the prospect of taking on a new challenge but I am not under-estimating all the stuff I still have to learn.”
Having achieved everything possible in harness racing in this part of the world with a record that leaves no room for argument he is the greatest harness racing trainer ever in Australasia, Purdon is re-evaluating his entire future.
“I am still very motivated and want the best for our owners and horses and I will still be driving a lot but eventually I would like to slow down on that front and we are already taking to Blair Orange about doing more of our driving.
“But a lot of this is planning for the future, whether that is the near future or further down the track.
“I have run a big business for a very long time and if I want to make changes there have to be plans in place.”
While Purdon’s future could be dual-code for the next few months it will be about trying to dominate predominantly the rich races coming up at Cambridge, and hopefully Alexandra Park if the Auckland weather ever allows that flood-damaged surface to be repaired.
The father-and-son team have the unbeaten Millwood Nike as a red-hot favourite in her $150,000 Harness Million on Friday while they have a trio of three-year-olds taken on the northerners in the $200,000 male pacing final.
“Most of them trailed at Pukekohe on the weekend and were good and while Merlin is the one to beat in the boy’s race the draws have evened things up.”
The stable stars Self Assured and Akuta are also in north and will start racing in two weeks as they build toward the $1million The Race by Grins at Cambridge on April 14.
