KEY POINTS:
The fact Mark Purdon is comparing any horse with his all-time favourite Il Vicolo is a shock.
What he says after that is nothing short of unbelievable.
In his most frank interview yet on the freakish potential of champion 3-year-old Auckland Reactor, training legend Mark Purdon has revealed
exclusively to the Herald he thinks the youngster could have won last week's Easter Cup.
Yes, you read that right, a 3-year-old who Purdon - aka Mr Conservative - says could have beaten Monkey King.
But hold on a minute, we are getting ahead of ourselves.
To understand how weird this all is you have to understand who - human and equine - we are dealing with here.
Purdon rates alongside Geoff Small and thoroughbred trainer Mark Walker as New Zealand's most consistent producer of truly great horses in the last decade.
And like any great trainer he is reluctant to compare horses of different eras. Which means you just annoy him long enough until he breaks and starts saying some pretty amazing stuff.
"Auckland Reactor could be the best horse I have trained, potentially better than Vic," starts Purdon as the thaw begins.
Vic is Il Vicolo, who Purdon trained to be unbeaten at three (including three Derbys) and win two New Zealand Cups.
Vic was Purdon's first champion and put him on the map when he started training on his own in 1995.
He also helped set the boss up financially as he half-owned the beautiful colt who turned into a ruthless stallion.
So for Purdon to divorce himself from that obvious emotional attachment and declare Auckland Reactor as the equal of, and possibly superior to, Il Vicolo is quite amazing.
But not as amazing as the reason why. "I think he might bit a bit tougher than Vic," offers Purdon.
Tougher? Than a horse who won two New Zealand Cups, beating champions like Master Musician and Blossom Lady.
Il Vicolo was an equine steamroller, who won 31 races and over $1.5 million.
Surely to compare Auckland Reactor, who has only had nine starts and beaten very little, is premature?
Well, maybe not.
Auckland Reactor looked special even before he started racing and set himself on a path for greatness when he sat parked to win the Sires' Stakes Final on November.
But plenty of November heroes lose their lustre by autumn. Not Auckland Reactor. He has turned into a bullet train with a mane and tail.
His mauling of older rivals in fast time two starts ago was followed by an angry dismemberment of the 3-year-olds in last Friday's Flying Stakes.
He won by seven lengths, making his own Derby-winning stablemate Fiery Falcon look, well, about seven lengths inferior.
"What he did to them last week was quite hard to believe," said Purdon. "And I think he is getting better every time I take him to the races."
Purdon says Auckland Reactor's toughness is not so much physical - he is not a large horse, wearing a moderate 57inch hopple - but mental.
"He is a very aggressive horse," said Purdon. "Not at home where he is a pleasure to do anything with. But at the races he wants to run as fast as he can and the more the other horses push him the more aggressive he gets.
"When he jogged that 2600m race two weeks ago in 3:12 I couldn't believe it."
And then Purdon drops a bombshell to shock any harness fan who knows the quietly-spoken horseman.
"If he had had the same run Classic Cullen [his stablemate, which Purdon also drove] had in the Easter Cup I am sure he would have won it."
Yes, Mr Conservative believes Auckland Reactor could have beaten Monkey King in the Easter Cup. Almost makes the $1.10 on offer in tonight's Derby seem tempting.
