Raydon can rein back big handicap Purdon

Barry Purdon can't remember the last time he started a horse off a 60m handicap but that doesn't dent his confidence with Raydon at Alexandra Park tonight.
The trotter many thought would develop into the best in the country this season has struggled in five starts this season, with a cocktail of handicaps and bad luck leaving a sour taste in punters' mouths.
Tonight, he drops back into a far easier grade but pays for that with a 60m handicap in a junior driver's event, but Purdon is still confident.
"It would be a long time since I have had one start off that sort of handicap, maybe Framalda, but that was a long time ago," Purdon said.
"But I wouldn't be lining him up in it unless I thought he could win."
While the 60m handicap is especially brutal in a capacity field, Raydon does have some key factors in his favour.
There are no horses between him and 30m marker Great Getaway, and he has the services of outstanding junior driver Zac Butcher.
"Zac is a really good young driver and he will do the right thing by the horse," Purdon said.
"But make no mistake, he is there to win and I think he can."
The numbers suggest Purdon is right, with most of those off the front line tonight trotters of around 3m 35s ability for the 2700m, whereas Raydon has trotted 3m 25.8s for the distance.
Even allowing for the fact Great Getaway is a 3m 30s type trotter off her 30m handicap, Raydon at his best should be good enough to win.
After all, One Over Kenny was able to overcome a 65m handicap on this track just a few months ago, although that was in a far smaller field.
Purdon and his training partner, Scott Phelan, will debut four 2-year-olds as the Breckon Bloodstock Young Guns series opens with a capacity field in the first heat. Purdon expects Supremacy (race five) to be improved by her first run back and gives her a real each way chance. APN News & Media