But while winning the premiership is a dream come true for a man who trained just 66 winners four seasons ago, compared with his 111 so far this season, Dalgety says being the best trainer comes down to more than wins.
"Mark is still the icon all other trainers look up to," Dalgety told the Herald. "And his horses have won a lot more money than my horses have this season, which is the really big guide.
"But don't get me wrong, I'd love to win the premiership, especially now I am this close.
"It is not the aim at the start of the season but once you get this close, well, I might not get another chance as good as this."
Dalgety could have starters at all four meetings this week - Cambridge on Thursday, Alexandra Park and Addington on Friday and the season-ender at Rangiora.
If he does train two winners before Saturday the organisers of the Horse of the Year dinner on Saturday night face a stalemate, as they would have had Purdon's name all but etched on the trainer of the year award yet it may not now be decided until Sunday.
Dalgety will resist the temptation to keep star 3-year-olds Bit Of A Legend and Safedra home for racing this week, instead opting to send them to Australia to start their Breeders Crown campaigns.
"Bit Of A Legend is definitely heading away this week and I want Safedra to go, too.
"So while she will be nominated for the local meetings this week, if I get my way she won't actually be here."
While Dalgety's breaking Purdon's five-year stranglehold on the premiership seemed unlikely a month ago, his results are similar to last season. He trained 113 winners last term and sits on 111 now, meaning he might only need a personal best by one win to claim the title.
The difference is Purdon, who has campaigned large numbers of top-class horses based in Australia since Christmas, has trained only 113 winners domestically this season, compared with 138 last year.
If he does capture the title this season, Dalgety is certain it won't be the start of any dynasty.
"It is really, really hard work training a bigger team," he said.
"At the moment, we only have about 30 in work but at some stages it got up past 50 and that takes a hell of a lot of organising.
"It is actually quite psychically draining and not good for the lifestyle.
"We have managed to diminish some of that workload by changing the way we communicate with our owners, which is a big part of the job.
"Ideally you would like to deal with everybody personally but that isn't possible so we use a lot more email, text messaging and website-based communication and that has at least freed some time up.
"But I couldn't go on like this forever, which is another reason it would be nice to win it this week."
Meanwhile, stable star Christen Me, who has contributed 10 of Dalgety's premiership wins, has been jogging for a week as he starts his New Zealand Cup preparation.
"He has definitely filled out and looks great."
Tomorrow: Can Purdon see off the challenge?
