SYDNEY - Three days before the Miracle Mile Holmes D G was too tired to stand up.
He just lay in his paddock at home, exhausted after one of the toughest weeks any New Zealand racehorse has had to endure.
In the previous seven days Holmes D G had been trapped three wide in a world record New Zealand Cup; had to come from last for fourth in the Free-For-All; and then been trapped again, this time in Blenheim as Cook Strait was too dangerous for horses to be allowed on the ferry.
After a week from racing hell and a day standing in a horse float travelling the length of the North Island, he arrived home to Clevedon a broken horse. A horse so tired he spent Tuesday lying down.
Trainer Barry Purdon looked into that paddock and did not like what he saw. He felt for his old mate. So he went inside to make one of the most difficult calls of his training career. To ring and scratch from the Miracle Mile.
Trainers simply don't scratch horses from the Miracle Mile. That would be like making the All Blacks and saying you don't want to play. But this was a horse who could clearly not take on the hottest Miracle Mile field in years. The game was up, the phone call had to be made.
But Purdon couldn't make that phone call. He couldn't give up on Holmes D G just because almost everybody else had.
"I knew if any horse could do it. If any horse could pick himself up and still do himself proud in the Miracle Mile it would be him,"
So Holmes D G went to Sydney. He went to the Miracle Mile. He went to the front and never looked back.
He beat the Interdominion champion Shakamaker, the New Zealand record holder for consecutive wins Courage Under Fire and he beat the odds.
At first glance it would have been easy to dismiss the efforts of some of those behind Holmes D G.
Maybe some of the superstars had gone the worst races of their careers. Maybe the 48 hour security guards imposed before the race had upset some of their training regimes.
But you can't dismiss this.
Holmes D G paced the second fastest time in Miracle Mile history after doing all the hard yards - before and during the race.
He obviously didn't know he was 10-1 with the bookies.
Nobody had told him three of the directors of the NSW Harness Racing Club did not even want him in the race.
But Purdon knew.
He knew there were those who thought Holmes D G should not be at Harold Park last Friday night and that made the win one of the most satisfying of his career.
"It hurt me when I heard people running him down because I know how good he is," said Purdon.
"I know he had that virus at the Inters last season and his form was poor and that some people said he hadn't recovered but I knew he had. That is what really frustrated me, I knew he was back to his best form but things just hadn't gone his way.
"I still believed in him because we have been through a lot before and he has always done his best for me. That was what made this win so special."
So the Miracle Mile once again lived up to its name.
Holmes D G achieved what many thought was impossible, thanks to talent and courage.
And a trainer who couldn't bring himself to make a phone call that would have let down a mate.
Racing: Exhausted old mate pulls off a Miracle
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