J T Boe looks the bet of the night at Addington tonight. Photo / Ajay Berry
When Steve Telfer used to work for champion horseman Barry Purdon, morning smoko was surrounded by a parade of champions.
Telfer and the other staff would have their coffee break in Purdon’s hut, which was humble-looking but was covered inside with harness racing greatness.
There on the walls were photos of some of the great moments in Purdon’s career, champions like Luxury Liner, Christopher Vance, Chokin and later, Holmes D G.
But there was one framed piece of work that stayed with Telfer, as did the number emblazoned across its top.
“I remember looking at it almost every day, with that number 168 on it,” he said.
That was a commemorative piece to celebrate the 1993-94 season in which Barry Purdon and his now late father Roy Purdon trained the New Zealand-record 168 wins in a season.
In the next week, maybe fortnight, Telfer expects to break it.
He will have had plenty of help. Team Telfer is a big machine.
Funded and run by Stonewall Stud’s Steve Stockman, along with Telfer’s partner Jill Stockman, they have a wonderful northern property not far from where Purdon still trains.
In Canterbury, Telfer’s sister Amanda Telfer runs another property, with decades of experience alongside her in a team that have Tim Williams as their southern stable driver.
It takes a lot of people, horses and money to break a 31-year-old record set by legends, but Team Telfer are about to do just that.
They go into the last month of the season on 158 wins and had a couple of winning chances at Cambridge on Thursday – and they have more at Addington and Alexandra Park tonight.
“We have some good chances and then we are sending seven horses to the two-day meeting at Manawatū next and we would expect to pick up some winners there,” Telfer said.
“We are so busy, I am not allowing myself to think about it too much but when I do, it is crazy to think after looking at that pic for so many years, we should really break that record now.”
Once the middle section of this season went so well, Stockman set his training team a goal.
“You have got to have a goal. Mine has always been that 168, plus one obviously to get the record, and big Steve [Stockman] challenged us to try and get 170,” Telfer said.
“We have some decent-sized teams going to some meetings down south and we are even sending a team to the Coast [Westport and Reefton] at Christmas.
“I know the TAB had an option us to get 190 or even 200 but that won’t happen.
“If I had to guess, I’d say 175 might top us out, but I’d be happy with that.”
So he should be. That sort of total would represent a winner almost every two days for a year, and there are plenty of days of the year when there is no harness racing.
Telfer opts for J T Boe (Race 9, No 5), who was massive recovering for fourth after a standing-start gallop last start, as the stable’s best Addington chance tonight.
“He will really appreciate being back to the mobile while Sonofamistery [R4, No 9] can overcome his wide draw, as I think he is even better driven for speed.”
He rates Melody Banner (R8, No.4) their best hope at Alexandra Park tonight but warns punters Akatea (R6, No 7) will go close in the Caduceus Club Breeders Stakes.
While it won’t happen tonight, at some stage in the next fortnight Telfer will get to that number he admired so often, 168 wins, and then he will train one more and break a record that never look likely to be broken.
Then, early in 2026, Team Telfer can order their own artwork with a new number for their morning team room.
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.