Racing: Enthusiastic Purdon seeks new challenge

Barry Purdon with former stable star Holmes D G. Photo / NZ Herald

New Zealand's most successful ever harness racing trainer is set to branch out into the thoroughbred world.

And while champion horseman Barry Purdon says he will always train harness horses, he is serious about his move to train gallopers.

Purdon, the only New Zealand harness racing trainer with more than 2000 career wins, wants to train gallopers as well from his property at Clevedon, South Auckland.

So serious is he about the move he is taking advice on whether a 1600m galloping training track can be laid on the property, where so many of New Zealand's greatest pacers have been trained.

"There is no point doing things by halves," Purdon told the Herald.

"I have been keen to train some gallopers for a fair while and I think the time is right now."

Purdon has applied to Thoroughbred Racing New Zealand for a public trainer's licence so is not just considering training the odd galloper for himself and his friends.

"There is a long way to go but I'd like to think I might train eight or 10 gallopers, maybe more depending how it goes.

"Eventually, I will have to get a galloping track laid but I am serious about this and will want to give the horses the best of everything."

That has been the Purdon mantra for 30 years in harness racing, in which time he has trained such heroes as Chokin, Christopher Vance, Holmes D G and Luxury Liner among an army of champions.

Purdon dabbled very briefly in galloping more than a decade ago, when he prepared former Australian galloper Check That Style, who finished fifth in an Auckland Cup. But he wants his next foray to be more substantial.

He has already been given a galloper from last week's Ready To Run sales to train by leading Australian owner Terry Henderson.

He has shared in the ownership of both Chokin and Holmes D G but is best known as a part-owner of Melbourne Cup winner Doriemus and syndicates top-end thoroughbreds in Australia through his OTI business.

Henderson has long thought Purdon has the ability to be a leading galloping trainer and is now his first client.

Purdon says that while the new challenge excites him there is still much work to be done.

"But I have always admired the way the leading galloping trainers go about things," he said.

"And the pinnacle of that is in Australia at their biggest meetings, where the level of professionalism is very high.

"So the dream would be one day having a horse good enough to race over there at a major carnival. But we are not getting ahead of ourselves.

"I am simply looking to start out and do our best."

Purdon and training partner Scott Phelan still have a high-class harness racing team and that side of Purdon's business will not diminish.

"We have some lovely horses and they will be getting the same treatment as always but I think we can do both."

Cross-code trainers are nothing new in New Zealand, with Graeme Rogerson the best known.

Waikato harness trainer Todd Mitchell raced Electronic Socks in the New Zealand galloping Cup 10 days ago, while Sue Martin and Michelle Wallis are other harness trainers to dabble in galloping in recent years.

Canterbury's John Parsons has an outstanding record in both codes, and Hawera couple Lorraine and Ron Nolan predominantly trained gallopers before embarking on a stunningly successful career with New Zealand Cup and Interdominion winning pacer Yulestar.

Perhaps the most famous dual-code success story is Fred Kersley, who was a world-class harness racing trainer and driver in Western Australia for decades before starting galloping training and producing one of the all-time greats in Northerly.

If Purdon can get his hands on a galloper even half as good he will have fulfilled a dream.