Sales Punt Pays Off For Purdon

Taking a punt at last year’s NZB Standardbred National Yearling Sale in Christchurch has paid dividends for trainers Mark and Nathan Purdon, with their purchase Wat Next (NZ) (Art Major) winning the $150,000 Listed NZB Standardbred Harness Million 2YO Fillies Mobile Pace (1980m) at Addington Raceway on Friday night.

When conducting on farm inspections, the daughter of Art Major caught Nathan Purdon’s eye, but there was one glaring fault with the filly.

“I looked at her two months before the sale and I loved everything about her, but the only thing was that she had one leg on sideways,” he said.

“I looked at her a month later on the off chance that it did start to straighten up and it did start to straighten up quite a lot.

“I waited until sale day before I looked at her again and she was maturing in the right way and the leg was straightening up nicely. I thought I would take a punt on her just knowing the way she was developing.

“She had a beautiful head and was a lovely bodied filly and had the pedigree to go with it, so she was ticking a lot of boxes.”

Purdon’s bid of $50,000 duly secured her and he is pleased his punt has paid off, with her $88,000 winner’s cheque on Friday more than recouping his initial outlay.

Wat Next had only had two prior starts, placing on debut at Addington Raceway last month before returning to the Christchurch track to finish fifth last week.

While she was still a maiden heading into the Harness Million, punters saw her potential and backed her into a $4.60 second favourite behind her Group One-winning stablemate Shezsofast (NZ) (Vincent).

She showed blistering gate speed off the mobile arm to shoot forward and grab the early lead for driver Bob Butt before the in-form reinsman quickly handed up to Shezsofast and put his charge to sleep in the trail.

Butt produced Wat Next up the passing lane and on fresh legs she scooted up the inside to get the better of her stablemate, and she held out War Cry (NZ) (Lazarus) to win by 1-¾ lengths.

“There is not much between those few fillies, so I wasn’t surprised at all,” Purdon said. “Bob gave her a beautiful trip, which was the winning of the race.

 “She is a filly that has only had three starts now and she only had one trial prior to that, so she is on the up. Whatever she does this preparation, she should go on with quite a bit.”

Bred by Studholme Bloodstock, Wat Next is out of Wat A Woman, a half-sister to Group One performer Bettor Trix, and the dam of Group One winner No Matter Wat and Group One performer Manhattan.

Wat Next has now won one and placed in one of her three starts to date, and has accrued more than $91,000 in prizemoney.

Vendor	Studholme Bloodstock Ltd
Purchaser	Mark and Nathan Purdon Racing
Owner(s)	S J Byrne, S R Thompson, B R Irvine, J C T Cutler, M N Frost, M W Frost, M J W Skilling, M T Pratt
Breeding	Art Major - Wat A Woman
Sale	2024 NZB Standardbred National Yearling Sale, Christchurch ($50,000)
Breeders(s)	Studholme Bloodstock Limited