ReMARKable!

If not  a vintage Cup week in the cart for  epoch horseman Mark Purdon his  revival for a Group 1  victory on the “first night” added a  quirky chapter  to a more than vintage record.

Mark has so rarely missed a winning drive in Cup week this century it is almost headline material. It had  happened  in 2024 but from only three drives on Cup Day, and none Show Day.He still  ran a Group 1 placing with Demon Blue and handed the reins to Blair Orange to win the  NZ Trotting Free for All with Oscar Bonavena for Mark and Nathan.

It was a similar story in the only other three  Cup weeks this century at which he has driven and failed to land a winner. In 2000 Jack Cade ran second in both the Cup and the Free for All and in 2002 Blair drove Waihemo Hanger for the stable in its only winner of the week.In 2019 when the stable were still dominating but Mark was  sharing with ,Natalie, Blair and Tim they were the winning drivers over the two days

But the rest is,literally,history

Mark has driven well over 100 winners at the two days of Cup week,a record which will take plenty of beating.

This century he sits with  98 wins on just Tuesday and Friday. 

And that includes the peak Natalie Rasmussen era when she handled  a notable 23 winners for the stable in including a string of Group Ones.Before that Blair Orange shared in many successes.Granted a number of these were in races where the stable had multiple entries  and  Natalie’s and Blair’s notable skills were never in doubt.  The top drives were shared around, and   there is  little doubt he would have been handling some of them in other circumstances.

Comparisons with past decades are impossible with 8 and then 10 race programmes being the rule for so long ,plus  domination from one stable was extraordinarily difficult in that era. Once, one win in Cup week was remembered by everyone.Now one driver has over 100!

Highlights  from a driving aspect

2021:Mark drove NINE  winners over the two days (one outside drive) including two Group Ones. He drove six on Cup Day from eight drives -the other two minor placings-and he and Natalie had two Group race quinellas. Mark won the Sires Stakes on the first day and Dominion Handicap on the second for the G1 successes. Mark and Natalie had SIX Quinellas over the two days. It is hard to imagine Mark’s driving record in one year being beaten for a very long time-maybe when they have 15 or so races!

 

2001: EIGHT  wins. Recently established in the south at Yaldhurst,Mark had not driven a winner in week 2000,his sole training success being driven by Blair. But he laid down the pattern the following year when Young Rufus,Jack Cade and Dependable all won the first day when Mark had four winners from seven drives.Young Rufus repeated in the FFA on Friday alongside some lesser lights.One of these was Braeside Star the stable’s first Cup week winner at Addington for Braeden and Caroline Whitelock.There would be many more. Mark and brother- in law-Tony Herlihy drove eight of the 12 winners on the second day.

2020:  SEVEN wins for Mark amongst stiffer competition and  EIGHT races in all  four on each day. The stable had won five or more races in Cup week on 13 different occasions.

2018: Another SEVEN but an even more rewarding day for the stable who posted a record TWELVE winners for the week. That included the all time Addington record of most winners in a day the , EIGHT recorded on Cup Day. Natalie won the Sires Stakes Final, the NZ Cup (Thefixer) and the Free for All (Cruz Bromac)

 

2016-2017: seem like “what happened” seasons compared to later ones. Why?  Mark drove three winners in the 2016 week and just two the following year. They were years dominated by Lazarus and when the stable had many fewer runners on Show Day. Mark did not drive in 9 of the races in  each of those years. 

2015: The year Mark finally claimed the outright honours for most winners in a day during Cup week. John Hay, who posted four wins (10 races) in 1996 had proved a stubborn target which Mark had equalled in 2001 from seven drives. He would later extend the record to six on a larger programme.There was a slight hitch to the day’s celebrations when he watched a former charge Arden Rooney under a “vigorous” drive that showed whip rules only go so far ,outlast a “below peak on the day” Smolda in the NZ Cup.It was somewhat of a mystery outcome to Mark and everyone else in the stable  but Smolda’s previous and subsequent efforts in Australia and New Zealand,many of them sensational, proved the Cup Day form misleading. Mark would have loved to win a Cup for his partner and close friend Neil Pilcher

1988: was Mark’s first successful Cup week. He drove Just Michael for Pukekohe trainer,Brian Notman, to win on Cup Day in a race where only three other drivers remain active (Gerard O’Reilly,Jim Curtin and Anthony Butt) .Then Tax Credit gave him his  his first Group 1 in sensational finish to the NZ Free for All on Show Day downing stablemate,super star Luxury Liner at odds-on  in the last stride.

 With Aussies like Our Maestro,Quite Famous and local stars like Master Mood in the lineup it was a strong field. Tax Credit paid $57 after missing the start and finishing last in the NZ Cup: whereas after winning that race Luxury Liner had won nearly twice as much as any other pacer in New Zealand.

 

It was a drive that hinted at the future. The stablemates went out in better than 27 the first quarter when Mark handed up for the trail. He got up by a whisker and the time equalled Preux Chevalier’s race record for a male -Armalight  being the outright holder.

Tax Credit bred by Colin Baynes in Southland had been a rebel as a youngster but his great asset was his speed out of the gate a trait shared by many of the Sir Dalrae stock.It certainly paid off this day.