Hall of Famer Barry Purdon to make surprise return to the racetrack

One of the legends of New Zealand racing will make a comeback to the track on Friday night to partner a horse 67 years younger than him.

Hall of Fame trainer Barry Purdon will have his first racenight drive since 2019 when he partners Higher Power in an intermediate trot at Alexandra Park. The 3-year-old trotter is set to start as odds-on favourite.

Purdon, who trains Higher Power with Scott Phelan, is one of the all-time greats of either equine code in New Zealand, having won every race that matters as a trainer, while he has driven the winners of Auckland, Hunter and Victoria Cups, Miracle Miles and Inter Dominion Trot Finals.

Perhaps most remarkably, his huge honour roll has been compiled even after engaging other drivers, notably Tony Herlihy or Zachary Butcher, to drive many of his best horses over the last 40 years.

But he was forced from his occasional racenight drives in 2019 by a nagging hip issue that ultimately saw him have a hip replacement. It was not straightforward.

“We ended up having some complications, so I think I have had six operations, although Katrina [his wife] tells me it is seven,” says Purdon.

“It was nobody’s fault, I was lucky enough to have an amazing surgeon who was a great guy but, when you are dealing with the body, same as in horses, things can go wrong.

“But I am good now and have been back driving quite a lot of track work.”


There is no secret reason why Purdon wants to partner Higher Power tomorrow, even though the young trotter potentially has $800,000 worth of feature races coming up before the end of the year.

“I could get somebody else to drive him, but I want to keep my hand in,” says the 70-year-old.

“I am enjoying driving track work, and I think being out there on racenight gives you a better idea of what is going on and maintains that connection.

“I won’t be driving a lot, or even all the time, but am looking forward to tomorrow night and being back out there. I’m quite excited.”

With so many young drivers having come through the ranks and Purdon being absent from the Alexandra Park driver’s room for six years, is he worried he might need to find a new locker?

“Funny you should mention that. I was in there the other day and they still have my name on my old locker where I used to sit every week, so I think I will be fine,” he laughs.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.