Alongside training partner Hayden Cullen, the champion trainer starts three horses in New Zealand’s greatest harness race, with Akuta lining up beside 2020 champion Self Assured and two-time runner-up Spankem.
An eight-time New Zealand Cup winning trainer, Purdon will be out to replicate his first win in the 3200m feature in 1995 with Il Vicolo when he drives Akuta today.
Though Akuta is officially a 3yr-old, owing to a change in the racing calendar, the pacer is actually 4, just as Il Vicolo was in the first of his two New Zealand Cup triumphs.
Akuta is also partly raced by Purdon, just as Il Vicolo was.
Purdon gave Il Vicolo his first test at Group One level against open class horses in the New Zealand Cup and he is hoping Akuta can bring the same reward when he attempts the same task today.
One main difference between the pair is that Il Vicolo came into the New Zealand Cup after winning the Kaikoura Cup.
Though Akuta only ran third in the lead-up event, the effort impressed Purdon so much it effectively booked the horse’s ticket in today’s feature.
"I was rapt with his performance in the Kaikoura Cup," Purdon said.
"He was three-wide to the first corner and then he sat parked and he had no favours.
"I think he is still on the way up and I thought considering the amount of work he did, his performance was very good."
Akuta has shown maturity beyond his years, most notably by stepping away cleanly in all of his standing starts.
The pacer just needs to replicate what he is doing to be right in the picture from barrier three.
"He has always been good, even when we first gave him practice from a stand — I don’t think he has ever put a foot wrong.
"You would think he would be good on Cup Day — he has got that laidback attitude where I don’t think the big crowd will worry him."
Self Assured produced excellent New Zealand Cup lead-up performances for the All Stars barn until he disappointed in the Ashburton Flying Stakes.
The stable reported to stewards that the horse was treated for a blood issue following his seventh placing.
Purdon expects the pacer to bounce back to his best today, but he is weary that the current time of year could mean we don’t get to see the version of the horse that was so dominant earlier this year.
"I expect him to [be at his best].
"There is a question mark hanging over him and I think it is just the time of the year.
"Maybe it's just with it being spring time.
"I know when we got to Auckland in the summer and autumn he turned the corner and I think the atmosphere at the moment is why we didn’t see the best of him at Ashburton."
There are absolutely no doubts about where Spankem is at heading into his third New Zealand Cup tilt.
The pacer is potentially in better shape than he was when he ran second placings in the big race in both 2019 and 2020.
"He is just in a really good place at the moment and I was rapt with his work in particular [last] Wednesday.
"He just seems very sound and in the right place for this occasion.
"I know, to be fair, two miles isn’t his pet distance but I really think he is in one of the best places of his career at the moment."
Natalie Rasmussen will drive Spankem today, with Tony Herlihy to drive Self Assured and Purdon to drive Akuta.
NZ Cup field
New Zealand Cup 5:36 $600,000, ffa, stand, 3200m
1 1X337 Self Assured (1) fr T Herlihy
2 36157 Majestic Cruiser (2) fr C Hart
3 X1413 Akuta (3) frM Purdon
4 0X501 Krug (4) fr C Dalgety (j)
5 2X293 Spankem (5) frN Rasmussen
6 15480 Heza Sport (6) fr B Butt
7 7X352 Pembrook Playboy (7) fr N Williamson
8 15411 Copy That (8) fr B Orange
9 X1112 Old Town Road (9) fr Z Butcher
10 31061 Kango (10) fr D Butcher
11 39185 Smiffy's Terror (11) fr J Dunn
12 80407 The Falcon (12) fr G O'Reilly
13 21116 Rock N Roll Doo (13) fr M Stanley
14 67576 Steel The Show (14) fr
15 12111 B D Joe (15) fr B Butcher
16 X1224 Alta Wiseguy (16) fr T Williams
17 8X508 South Coast Arden (ur) fr B Mangos
18 XPP00 Cranbourne (ur) fr M Williamson
Emergencies: Steel The Show, Cranbourne, The Falcon.
Fixed odds: Copy That $3.60, Rock N Roll Doo $5, Akuta $7.50, Self Assured $8, Old Town Road $8, Spankem $9, B D Joe $13, Majestic Cruiser $16, Alta Wiseguy $18, Pembroke Playboy $31, Steel The Show $31, Krug $41, Kango $41, The Falcon $51, Cranbourne $51, Smiffy’s Terror $61, South Coast Arden $61, Heza Sport $81.
