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Home / Sport / Racing

Racing: Purdon star out for spell after success

Michael Guerin
By Michael Guerin
Racing Editor·NZ Herald·
31 May, 2015 05:30 PM4 mins to read

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Have Faith In Me was one of five winners for Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen at Ashburton. Photo / Race Images

Have Faith In Me was one of five winners for Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen at Ashburton. Photo / Race Images

It was a huge Harness Jewels Day for the All Stars stable with five winners saluting.

The record season of New Zealand racing's most exciting youngster has come to a shock end even after he carried punters through at the Harness Jewels.

Superstar pacer Have Faith In Me confirmed himself as the next big thing in Australasian harness racing by heading home a stable trifecta in the $150,000 3-year-old pace at Ashburton on Saturday.

That gave him a clean sweep of our elite three-year-old races: the Sires' Stakes Final, Sales Series Pace, Northern Derby, Flying Stakes, NZ Derby and Jewels.

His 11 starts this season for seven wins resulted in $544,729 in stakes, all from a horse who raced only twice as a juvenile.

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That continues trainer Mark Purdon's remarkable record with 3-year-old pacing heroes who barely graced the track at two, with Auckland Reactor and Have Faith In Me's big sister Adore Me other examples.

Even after a remarkable day on which Purdon and training partner Natalie Rasmussen trained five of the Jewels winners, he says he doesn't want to be greedy so has pulled Have Faith In Me off a plane to Queensland on Wednesday.

"He was heading there for three races but I think he has had enough so he is going to the paddock instead," says Purdon.

While the fact he jogged to his 1:52.5 win on Saturday suggested he would barely raise a sweat winning races like the Queensland Derby, Purdon's patience is one of the less heralded reasons for his Australasian-wide domination and it will even extend as far as early next season with the budding champ.

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That means he won't even nominate Have Faith In Me for the New Zealand Cup in November or the A$1.3 million Inter Dominion in Perth in December.

"He won't be racing again till around Christmas," he offers.

"He has done a great job but he deserves a break now."

Incredibly, that would leave the super stable with just one realistic New Zealand Cup hope in Smolda, who was beaten under controversial circumstances at Menangle on Saturday night.

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Purdon says Saturday's huge haul of Jewels bounty left him relieved more than buzzing.

"It was a great team effort but afterwards you get home and you are just stuffed," he says.

"It was fantastic for the owners and very gratifying to be able to get those results but you are basically going all day so you don't have time to think about it and enjoy it."

As good as Lazarus (2-year-old male pace), Missandei (2-year-old trot) and King Denny (4-year-old trot) were, the other undoubted star of the Purdon-Rasmussen show was Dream About Me in the opening race.

The half-sister to Christen Me came from the widest barrier to work hard, sit parked and still kick clear at the top of the straight before knocking off momentarily and then rallying to down another stablemate in Arden's Choice.

She is unbeaten in five starts and is almost certain to head to the rich Breeders Crown in Victoria in August, just one of up to 15 reps the stable may have in three Australian states over the winter.

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"She is a very special filly," says the boss.

"She has huge potential and while plenty of good 2-year-old fillies might struggle at three, I don't think she will be one of them.

"She has the breeding to go on with it and she does everything so easily."

Dream About Me's win and the hype around her breeding suggest she could hold a special place in New Zealand harness racing history: a pacing filly worth $1 million.

While that sounds staggering, her earning potential plus the fact she is by Bettors Delight and a half-sister to Christen Me, a Miracle Mile, Hunter and Auckland Cup winner, means no other Kiwi juvenile filly would ever have been worth what Dream About Me is.

"Not that she would ever be for sale but you really couldn't put a price on her," says Purdon.

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Jewels domination

• The All Stars stable win five group ones on Harness Jewels Day at Ashburton.

• However, their best pacer Have Faith In Me is surprisingly heading to the paddock.

• Dream About Me could be the most valuable juvenile pacing filly in New Zealand history.

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