Sticking strictly to the timetable experts advised from beginnning, Mark has Akuta back in work -exactly 12 months after being sidelined with a tendon injury that threatened to end his career.
“He came back this week and the scans have been looking very good for the future. We are starting from scratch from a race training viewpoint. All going well we will take him through to around May at the trials then maybe give him another break before hopefully getting through a Cup preparation. But that is a long way away and I am taking it as it comes”
Mark raced Akuta with Ian Dobson under the Cullen Breeding banner.Ian’s family Lynne and Stuart are now involved and carrying the family banner high.Mark put instinct before science when the decision was made to try and rehabilitate Akuta for racing but from then on has followed the guidelines veterinary experts laid down.
As most know and many rivals have envied,Mark Purdon instincts are well worth following.
“He had done a lot of rehab, been swum, been ridden, everything that was required ” Mark said.
“I was determined not to take any shortcuts and so far so good”
The scans of the injury have been conducted by Mark’s partner,Barbara, one of the leading equine veterinary surgeons in New Zealand and it would be fair to say she did not share Mark’s early optimism about the outcome.
“The original scan was assessed as only a 10 percent chance of racing again which is very low for that sort of injury. But he had been such a good horse I felt he had earned some leeway and decided to take on the 12 month programme that was the alternative and stick with it”
A 6 month scan revealed the chances had risen to 50 per cent and “the latest one is very very good” .So following the expert advice has paid off to date.
Tendon injuries once spelt an emphatic end to most racing careers,or long periods roaming paddocks if nature’s course was followed,but modern science and advances in surgery have increased the hopes of a return. Because of the high bar that is elite competition it is also more difficult for the superstars who must start at that level.
All Stars have had mixed fortunes in the field in the past but there have been some notable survivors. One was Hands Christian who overcame not one but two bowed tendons to win an Easter Cup over 3200m. Nathan gained his first Group 1 training success in Australia with the formerly Tony Herlihy-trained Ohoka Punter one of the great survivors for owner Katie Carville. He had also come back from double bowed tendons.Mark is hopeful Akuta can join the list.
There is a half-brother by Art Major catalogued at the Christchurch sale by breeders Paul and Pauline Renwick.
Akuta was sidelined on the eve of a Hunter Cup tilt last year.He had won the Ashburton Flying Stakes and the Kaikoura Cup through the spring and ran second in both the Cup and the Free for All, to Swayzee and last-to-first burst from the previously below peak stablemate Self Assured. It was after his Auckland Cup third to Self Assured on New Year’s Eve that trouble struck.
He had built up a stunning record, a no more brilliant Harness Jewel’s win for a two year old than his 10 length margin in 2021 when trained by Hayden Cullen while All Stars closed during Covid being a sign of things to come. He has won 7 Group Ones and over $1m -with hopefully more to come.
The signs are increasingly in his favour
Akuta’s Jewels Sensation 2021