KEY POINTS:
Partners on the track became adversaries in the sales ring as the Ready To Run sale exploded in Christchurch yesterday.
The standardbred sale exceeded all expectations with an average of close to $45,000, up 50 per cent on last season.
It was typical of most standardbred sales in recent years, with huge money for the top lots but little interest in the less commercially bred.
But what wasn't typical was the battle for the top lots, which saw Mark Purdon come out ahead of galloping great Graeme Rogerson.
Rogerson and training partner Peter Simpson have caused a huge stir since joining the harness racing ranks, spending massive amounts of money at the yearling sales.
They are just weeks away from racing their first representatives and headed to Christchurch yesterday looking to top up the team.
But while they may have expected competition from Australian buyers, they wouldn't have picked Purdon to beat them for the $200,000 top lot.
Rogerson bought heavily for Purdon three years ago and the pair raced horses with some success, before the association all but petered out after Rogerson's took out his own harness racing training licence. But he still has a share in Classic Cullen, Purdon's New Zealand Cup winning hope.
And it was Purdon who claimed the top lot yesterday, a muscular Bettors Delight colt.
The two trainers were locked in a spirited bidding duel before Purdon paid the record price for a ready to run yearling in this country.
Soon after Rogerson went to $160,000 for a Christian Cullen colt with Purdon the under bidder but Purdon claimed the third top lot of the day when shelling out $130,000 for another Christian Cullen colt.
The sales topper clearly impressed Purdon when he trialled him two months ago.
"He was the pick of the ones I tried and I got the two I liked the most today," said Purdon.
The ownership make-up of the Bettors Delight colt is still to be determined but Purdon's ability to find new owners is staggering.
Three years ago he lost his long-time friend and business partner, the late John Seaton, who was behind Purdon's sales splurges in the last decade.
But he has still been able to buy at the top end of the yearling and ready to run sales since, even after a serving a disqualification from racing.
"I have been lucky to have some great owners who have been very loyal to me," he said.
The record price bodes well for sire Bettors Delight, who now stands in New Zealand after an incredible last 18 months in North America.
He served an enormous book of mares last season and is set to make leave a giant hoof print on the New Zealand harness racing industry.
The interest in top end horses, which saw northern trainer Brent Mangos also paying over $100,000 for a colt, helped push the average out to close to $45,000, helped by some sporadic Australian buying.
"We are thrilled with the way this sale continues to grow," said PGG Wrightsons spokesman Bruce Barlass.
