Have Faith In Me has blown both his standing starts, the latest at Ashburton two starts ago, with his only two defeats this year being from behind the tapes.
That mirrors the pattern of many Purdon-trained superstars in the past few years who have come out of almost exclusively mobile racing at 2, 3 and 4 into standing start racing when they reach open class.
That is why Auckland Reactor once dodged a New Zealand Cup, while a poor beginning almost certainly cost Smolda last week's New Zealand Cup.
And while Adore Me won the great race last year, she was gifted a walk up start but went on to blow the start of the Hunter Cup last February, losing all chance as a red-hot favourite.
"It is something I think our stable can definitely improve on," Purdon admits.
"It has cost us a few big races and I think we will start giving horses like Have Faith In Me more standing starts at home.
"I have never been one to give them too many standing starts, especially once they started to get it right, because sometimes it can make them go the other way.
"But so many of the big races are stands and Have Faith In Me needs some work on that."
Purdon admits instances like the normally-reliable Smolda's gallop in the Cup last Tuesday was not helped by the variance between pure standing starts and near walk-up starts, with last week's Addington carnival seeming to have a mix of both.
While Have Faith In Me will headline a team of up to 15 horses Purdon and Rasmussen will have in the north next month, neither Smolda or Messini will be part of it.
"Messini has gone back to Brent (Lilley in Victoria) for racing over there and we just don't think Smolda races his best at Alexandra Park.
"So we will let him miss the Auckland Cup and he will be aimed at the Victoria and Hunter Cups at Melton."
He will be joined there by at least one of the stable's top 3-year-olds in Lazarus and/or Chase The Dream, both of whom will come to Auckland next month as well before contesting the Victoria Derby.
But the unbeaten Our Waikiki Beach won't race here, being reserved for Australian racing in the first part of his season.
Didjamakem Bolt is likely to remain in the south for the country cups circuit but other Cup week stars like Prince Fearless will be coming north.
Purdon says he has turned the page on a bizarre meeting last Friday where he had a series of shock defeats which cost punters hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"It was just one of those really strange days," he said. "We had a month of bad luck in one day ...
"We have had plenty of big days where things have gone our way, so we can't dwell on it too much."
Auckland Trotting Cup
• Have Faith In Me is set to be favourite for next month's Auckland Trotting Cup.
• The race reverts to a 3200m standing start, which has trainer Mark Purdon rethinking a key training technique.
• New Zealand Cup runner-up Smolda won't be aimed at the Auckland Cup.
• The leading stable could have 15 reps at the Alexandra Park carnival.
