Tony Herlihy drives Chokin to victory in the 1991 Sires Stakes at Alexandra Park. Photo / NZME
Tony Herlihy drives Chokin to victory in the 1991 Sires Stakes at Alexandra Park. Photo / NZME
As milestone wins go the timing could hardly have been better.
Training legend Barry Purdon brought up what is believed to be his 100th group one winner in the last race of Jewels day, beating a pacer trained by his brother Mark and with a horse he bought at the yearling sales for a key syndicate of owners.
Not that Purdon knew it at the time of course.
The 62-year-old Hall of Famer has never been a stats man, hardly surprising considering how big his career numbers are.
This is, after all, a man who has trained 2404 winners in New Zealand alone, worth $32,039,936 in stakes.
Add in his hugely successful Australian career and Purdon could be forgiven for not knowing which milestone was coming next.
After the race, driver Zac Butcher - who played such a crucial role in getting Jack's Legend home - suggested to his boss it might have been the magical 100, working off numbers since a count-up was done years ago.
The ton would be counting group ones in New Zealand and Australia, which is hard to get an exact number on because some of Purdon's early training feats outdate the computer system.
But personal records, cross-referenced with the official ones, suggest Purdon now sits on 100, if not even one or two more wins at the highest level.
"It is one of those things I never think about, because you go about your business and hope to train winners and the records sort of take care of themselves," Purdon said.
"But now it looks like I've done it I'm proud of it because it is not something a lot of people have done I guess. And of course there have been a lot of people who helped - owners, training partners, drivers, staff."
Purdon trained an enormous amount of winners in partnership with father Roy, then in a 122-win stint with Scott Phelan. The last 819 domestic winners have come solely on his own account.
While the 100 group ones include his enormous Australian success, there are no official stats on exactly how much money his charges have won Australasian-wide. But a figure approaching $40 million in stakes would be a safe bet.
With the group ones finished for the season Purdon will soon take a short break, including supporting brother Mark at the World Drivers Champs in Canada in August.
But there are no thoughts of stretching that holiday into retirement.
"I still love what I do and it is hard to think about giving up when you have enthusiastic people around you," he said. "So it is not on the radar at the moment."
Barry Purdon. Photo / File
His last five years have been enormously productive, albeit with a smaller team than in the crazy 1990s, with Sky Major (five group ones), Maxim (two), Cheer The Lady (two), Jack's Legend and Mach Shard keeping the wins coming at the highest level.
But as good as they are, the horses and races etched deepest into Purdon's heart come from another era. "I have been lucky to have so many great horses but Chokin would still be number one," he said.
"And then I had horses like Homer [Holmes D G], who won 13 group ones and Christopher Vance and Luxury Liner."
It is the latter who provided Purdon with his most special win, his 1988 New Zealand Cup comeback over Our Maestro in one of Addington's iconic moments.
"That is the race that meant the most to me, and still does. It was incredible what he did that day."
Purdon's time at the top of the industry has seen harness racing go through so many changes, none more so than the speed explosion of recent years. "So much has changed, from the tracks to the sulkies, but the biggest thing in the last 10-15 years has been the breeding. We now have world champion stallions standing here and the horses are just faster.
"Who would have thought we would have horses pacing 25.5 for their last 400m at Ashburton the other day, it's almost galloping speed.
"I was saying to Mark the other day, if the right horses ended up in the Miracle Mile under the right conditions they could go close to breaking the world record [1:46]."
Purdon should know, he has won five Miracle Miles. As well as just about everything else.
By the numbers
• Barry Purdon trained what is believed to be his 100th group one winner with Jack's Legend at the Jewels.
• He has trained the winners of over 2400 races and $32 million in stakes in New Zealand.
• He rates Luxury Liner's 1988 NZ Cup win his proudest moment.
• Chokin heads his list of best horses trained.
• Drivers who have driven group one winners for Purdon include himself, Tony Herlihy (40), Mark Purdon (13) Zac Butcher (11), Brent Mangos, Colin De Filippi and Maurice McKendry.
