Mark has two tics alongside Akuta’s name as one of the longest New Zealand Cup preps in history is put to the supreme test tomorrow.
They are Optimistic -and Realistic.
And because he is above all a realist Mark has another two tics for punters for the big day.
Each Way. All Day.
“I think on Tuesday he will be as good as I can get him. I didn’t rate him as 100 per cent going into Kaikoura and so it proved with a little blow afterward. The way he worked this morning (Sunday) especially against the clock (home over 2400 in 58 and 28) gives me confidence he will be 100 per cent now.”
Lazarus Has Won the First of his Two NZ Cups
On the other hand there are the challenges from the Australian champion Leap To Fame who if at his best and with any luck in the running will be acclaimed at Addington in victory as all Australian conquerors have been from a generous Canterbury public in more than a century. There is also his his fellow challenger Kingman though Republican Party is the one Mark rates the Kiwi to beat and possibly just the horse to beat.
“Akuta could win it with things going his way. I am confident he can finish top three all going well.. He’s had to come from a long way back with his leg trouble but it seems to be fine now. Republican Party is racing terrific.Kingman might find this a little too soon but it’s the Cup and you couldn’t count him out.”
Akuta was run down by Swayzee two years ago after running an outstanding fourth the previous year when it was more a “spec run” as a budding superstar three year old, though he ran 3.54 (winning the Derby at his next start!) so the 3200m trip is understandably not a concern.
“I am fully confident in his staying ability. If the pace is on he will be best suited”
Mark says its a two dimensional race.
“There will be what happens if Leap To Fame gets to the front and there will be what happens if he is parked. They are very different scenarios.You can’t predict too much until you know which one is in play”
Left unsaid is the amazing Purdon record in the Cup, something that will never be topped in this era and more likely ever.There is no sign it is finished yet.
Besides eight wins to 2020 -there was a time when James Bryce’s six wins took nearly 40 years to equal- Purdon Racing has had to settle for another remarkable if frustrating record in the years since.It has been second in three of the four renewals and third (Spankem) plus fourth and fifth in the other ( 2022) when all three clocked the same very fast time. Don’t Stop Dreaming looked like being Cup winner No 9 after a dream drive by Blair Orange last year and Akuta had filled the same possie the previous year.
The Purdon way is looking forward not reflecting on past triumphs and Mark is a turn the page horseman. There is at least one exception though.
“Young Rufus probably should have won a NZ Cup. When I think of the disappointments in the race it is him I think of first.He was a great horse but he came home with a virus from Australia and for 18 months or more he wasn’t the same and was never really quite as good again. Yet he won an Auckland Cup and other top races. We didn’t see the best of him in a NZ Cup ”
Young Rufus had two NZ Cup runs, in both cases having to make big runs from the rear. You have to be at peak on the day to win and perhaps the favourite’s recent blip on the radar near the end of a busy year will give encouragement to some to chance their arm.
There’s one thing you can count on come Tuesday. Akuta will be as good as hands can make him. Especially when those hands belong to the “Bart Cummings” of the New Zealand Trotting Cup.
Can he win ? It’s a horse race. Will he win ?
Mark Purdon hasn’t “labelled” a Cup winner since Lazarus,who,along with the first winner Il Vicolo (“ I owned half of him which helped!) are the most unforgettable winners that spring to mind.
”Laz had such a perfect preparation I had great confidence given how good he was”
In Leap To Fame he is dealing with a horse on the same pedestal though perhaps not with such a perfect buildup.But it’s not so easy when you are on the other side of a phenomenon and real horsemen pay tribute to what that means.
So, realistic.But don’t be surprised if “Kuta” is rearing his stylish head at all comers at some stage of the race Mark Purdon has made his own.
So,optimistic.
And where would we be in racing without the lifeblood of optimism ?
CUP DRIVING RECORD
Probably the most underrated driver of his time in the public eye especially in staying races, Mark has a remarkable Cup driving record,especially has in latter years he shared drives with Natalie and Blair.
In short, from his nearly 30 Cup drives he has been in the first three more than 50% of the time!
(The legendary Maurice Holmes, in a different era, won three Cups from 40 drives)
1988: Tax Credit (14th) -won NZ FFA
1989: Reba Lord (11th)
1991: Mark Hanover (5th)
1992: Insutcha (5th)
1993: Sogo (5th)
1995: Il Vicolo (1st)
1996: Il Vicolo (1st)
1997: Brabham (5th)
1998: Brabham (7th)
1999: Bogan Fella (3rd)
2000: Bogan Fella (2nd)
2001: Bogan Fella (6th)
2002: Jack Cade (3rd)
2004: Young Rufus (6th)
2006: Imagine That (10th)
2007: Classic Cullen (11th)
2010: Sleepy Tripp (3rd)
Self Assured and best mate James. Jimmy is also helping prepare Akuta in 2025
2012: Fly Like An Eagle (7th)
2013: Fly Like An Eagle (2nd)
2014: Adore Me (1st)
2015: Smolda (2nd)
2016: Lazarus (1st)
2017: Lazarus (1st)
2018: Cruz Bromac (4th)-trained winner
2019: Spankem (2nd)-trained winner
2020: Self Assured (1st)
2021: Self Assured (2nd)
2022: Akuta (4th)
2023: Akuta (2nd)
29 drives:
6 wins -6 2nds-3 3rds-2 4ths-4 5ths
*He has been worse than 6th six times and two of those were when driving the Roy and Barry-trained “second stringers” in his early years of the Luxury Liner era.
*Most remarkably since 2012 he has been 1st or 2nd nine times from 11 drives and never further back than 4th.