It’s too flippant to underscore a worst-ever Cup week for Purdon racing with the cliche “when the going gets tough the tough get going “ but that sums up where the stable goes from here toward summer racing.
Months of planning and toil by dedicated staff with a smart group of top horses based away from home came to virtually nought last week, a bitter pill to swallow after leadup form suggested the usual Cup Week stable strike rate would prevail on the two days.
But only Oscar Bonavena was able to recover his best form and go close in the major trots.Most of the rest struggled suspiciously under pressure, a sure sign of a “bug” at work.
“It affected us earlier on. We think the older horses had it first and then it affected the young ones.” Nathan reflected
“But we thought we had it covered leading up to the week. The blood tests were good,they worked up to where we wanted them, there were no signs of anything amiss. But it’s only under race pressure that some of these viruses become obvious and the wrong time to find out ”
Worst affected were Akuta who belied a brilliant final trial with a moderate effort in the Cup and again in the Free for All, and Derby-aimed Rubira who ran well below his best in the Slot Race well behind horses like Marketplace and Got the Chocolates he had threatened hard earlier in the spring. Clearly more than lack of ability was at work here.
Akuta at least came out of the meeting sound of limb a minor compensation in the circumstances.
Nathan has no thought of their Dancingonmoonlight base being any factor.
“It was a terrific place to stay, Ross (Houghton) and Sam were very good to us, it was an ideal setup with plenty of open air facilities for them. We just don’t know the source of the problem.”
He does know the likely cure though.Dr Green, the world’s most loved veterinary surgeon -at least by the horses.
“We will tip most of them out for 4- 6 weeks give them a chance to get over everything and then start again.It’s one of those things you have to expect at some time, you just don’t want it at Cup meeting time”
The expertise and experience of the stable only adds to the frustration.
Mark has driven a winner at nearly every Cup meeting at which he has been active going back over 30 years and was at a loss after the disappointments of Show Day.
“They just feel like they are not right with some bug or other. They are much better than that form’ he said at the time.
Significantly perhaps Oscar Bonavena, who had been a little off colour leading up to the meeting but regained his bounce just before it started was the most successful.
The two year old fillies were solid but without the dash they were confidently expected to show. Ironically the best was River,the fourth rated of the stable,who is currently under offer.
Six of the team have already trekked north for their spell and four more go on Saturday. Chase a Dream is the exception and while he will be driven by Mark on Friday he is the the care of the Dunn stable and will probably transfer there with a view to southern summer features if he shows dash this week.
“To be fair to him he hasn’t had a lot of racing. It is easy to forget he was out a long time too. So he could just have needed the racing”
Just the Two of Us at Cambridge and Arden’s Memory at Alexandra Park will be stable representatives in the north and Nathan himself will be back in Auckland at the weekend.
“There are babies to work on in the coming weeks”
Nothing like the injection of youth to boost the spirits. And successful horsemen like Nathan and his team will have certainly earned one.
PS To add insult to injury the Purdon family galloper Captain Roy, now with the O’Sullivan/Scott stable was denied a run in the straight at Rotorua on Sunday and finished fourth.
PIC: Chase a Dream one of many of the team working impressively in lead up training for Cup Week, is the only survivor for Derby night after a disappointing