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Champion trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen took a chance with Self Assured and it paid off when the star pacer exploded away from his opposition to seal their fifth consecutive win in New Zealand Cup at Addington.



The All Stars stable duo went into the country’s biggest harness race knowing they had the most talented of horses, but one they rated just a 50-50 chance of stepping away safely when the starting tapes flew.

Those concerns evaporated in the first few strides when Self Assured effectively sealed his victory with a brilliant beginning.

The faultless display came after Purdon and Rasmussen took a calculated gamble by taking the five-year-old off the unruly starting position and then putting their masterful training skills to work.

“The Cup is about winning and I took him off the unruly because I didn’t think he could win it from there,” Purdon said.

“He was going to have to go around the field.”
“It was a risk, if he had drawn on the inside you would say I have done the wrong thing.”

“I was disappointed when he missed away in the Cup trial, but we did a lot of practice between then and today and he got it right.”

Purdon and Rasmussen not only cemented their place in New Zealand Cup history with Self Assured’s three and a half-length win for his Victorian owner Jean Feiss.
Spankem and Rasmussen held down second, ahead third placed Ashley Locaz and Tim Williams, to seal a race trifecta for the superstar trainers.

Yesterday may have appeared like just another day at the office for Purdon and Rasmussen as they collected three group 1 wins and the trifecta in New Zealand’s most sought after race.

But that is far from how Purdon sees it.
“Having horses like this is what you do it for.”
“And you have got to count yourself lucky.”

“Most trainers have only got one of these type of horses and we have just filled the first three placings in the New Zealand Cup.”

Self Assured’s victory was Purdon’s sixth win in the New Zealand Cup as a driver, equalling the late Cecil Devine.

The master horseman has now trained winner eight times, six of them in partnership with Rasmussen.
The thrill of winning the country’s biggest harness race is yet to fade as Purdon keeps etching his name into its history books.

“You do get the same thrill from each win in the Cup, especially when you do it for different connections each time.”

“It is lovely to do it for Jean, she has been such a great supporter of ours.”

“She is so passionate.”

“We have had horses in the past where I have suggested they have a better earning capacity in Australia after they’ve climbed the ladder here.”

“But she wouldn’t take them off us.”

The beginning that handed Self Assured a huge early advantage over his stablemate Spankem and the favourite Copy That was the biggest talking point following the running of this year’s New Zealand Cup.

As Self Assured was settling into his handy spot in the trail behind his stablemate Ashley Locaz, Copy That was drifting back through the field.

The North Island pacer was among several runners drawn on the inner that appeared to be disadvantaged when the starting tapes were released.

After his slow start from barrier 1, Copy That eventually settled last with a huge task in front of him to catch Self Assured and Spankem.

The effort the Ray Green trained pacer put in to try to get into the race told and Copy That faded into eight placing.

Green labelled the start of the New Zealand Cup a disgrace, after the race.

Credit : Johnny Turner, Harnesslink, 10 Nov 2020


Credit: Johnny Turner

Spankem’s dished up a powerful reminder of his status as the country’s leading short-course pacer when calling on his sensational speed to win the New Zealand Free-For-All at Addington on Friday.

The first 100m of the 1980m group 1 feature proved as vital as its last furlong after driver Natalie Rasmussen made Spankem’s rivals pay when controlling the race in front.

Rasmussen used the All Stars’ pacer’s speed to cross to the lead early, which proved the key to her six-year-old getting a deserved victory after having to settle for second behind his stablemate Self Assured in Tuesday’s New Zealand Cup.




Though his early burn was important Rasmussen said it was what happened immediately after Spankem crossed to the lead that set up his front-running win.

“He just dropped the bit, he is one that can get up on the chewy a bit,” the trainer-driver said.
“It was nice that he was able to drop the bit and relax and do his own thing and then starting picking up from the 1000m and start rolling.”

Though Rasmussen was clearly able to give Spankem a comfortable middle section of the New Zealand Free-For-All there was little respite for his rivals.

The six-year-old stopped the clock in 2-19.2 equating to a 1.53.1 milerate for 1980m
“He is fast, I think the 3200m just sees him out, but over the short trips he is pretty lethal.”

Self Assured clearly had Spankem’s measure over the 3200m of the New Zealand Cup, but there was no chance to compare the pair over 1980m under group 1 conditions after the former was scratched from yesterday’s race.
Rasmussen expects it to be a mighty clash when the pair meet in a similar race in the future.

“They are both so fast.”

“I do think Self Assured has everything, he is just so quick and he is so strong.”

“Spankem is quick and I would hate to see Self Assured try to sit outside him and beat him over a short trip.”
Spankem scored by three-lengths over Thefixer, who went the best race of his spring campaign when running into second from near the rear.

Ashley Locaz backed up his third in the New Zealand Cup with a strong third after sitting parked in Friday’s feature.

Credit : Johnny Turner, Harnesslink, 13 Nov 2020


Credit: Johnny Turner

The most unlikely New Zealand Cup of champion trainer Mark Purdon’s career meant so much more because he didn’t drive the winner.

Purdon provided the training quinella in the $750,000 New Zealand Cup at Addington yesterday but had to settle for second as a driver, as Cruz Bromac surged past his drive Spankem in the last 50m.

But for Purdon the win means as much if not more than if he had clung on to win the race himself because of the man in the sulky behind Cruz Bromac.

Blair Orange has won the last two national driver’s premierships but to any Canterbury harness racing driver, the New Zealand Cup is the holy grail and Purdon was thrilled to provide his former protege with the chance to get his hands on it.

Orange was a long-time employee of Purdon’s famous All Stars barn and a close personal friend of Purdon, who has stuck by him in the toughest of times.

He originally wasn’t in the frame to drive Cruz Bromac, who divides his time between Victoria and New Zealand. But through a series of events, including other horses being injured and other drivers being unavailable, Orange got his Cup with an inch-perfect display.

“I am thrilled for Blair,” said Purdon.

“He did a great job when he worked for us and has been very successful since he left.

“So to be able to give him the drive on a Cup winner is immensley satisfying for us. He is a good guy and he deserves it.” Orange sure did after the drive he pulled off, firstly managing to negotiate the standing start safely with Cruz Bromac, who only rejoined the All Stars three weeks ago after spending the whole year in Victoria. They don’t have standing starts in Victoria any more so that first mini win was crucial.


Once safely away he has to wrest the lead off Classie Brigade and that could have left him vulnerable as Cruz Bromac is probably best known as a sprinter but the sedate Cup speed of 3:56.9 and the inches Orange saved around the marker pegs proved the difference.

He grabbed Spankem, who had worked to the lead at the 1400m mark late and only by a neck, with Classie Brigade slightly luckless when forced to change ground in the home straight in third just ahead of Chase Auckland. Defending champion Thefixer was a battling fifth.

There was great irony in Orange partnering Cruz Bromac to win as he had only driven him in public once before.

That was when he failed to even qualify him in an early trial when Cruz Bromac was trained by Mark Jones before being sold to Australian interests and then coming back across this side of the Tasman to join the All Stars last year.

He won the NZ Free-For-All then and could return to that race this Friday and now looms as a major contender for the Inter Dominions which begin at Alexandra Park in 16 days.

Cruz Bromac’s win yesterday ticked him just over $1million in stakes and suggests the Australians could have a far greater role to play in the Inter Dominions than would have been expected even a few weeks ago.

The horse who beat him in the Victoria Cup three starts ago in Bling It On is being set for the Auckland series while local stars like Self Assured have fallen by the wayside and while Cruz Bromac is officially trained here he will be very much claimed by the Australians as one of their's come the Inters.

For Purdon it was his seventh New Zealand Cup training success as he continues to pen new pages in the record books with no end in sight.

But that wasn’t why he was smiling last night. He was beaming because of what he had done for a friend.


Credit: Harnesslink Media, 13 Nov 2019, Michael Guerin

Self Assured gave punters the smoothest of rides when confirming his status as New Zealand’s best pacer when speeding to victory in the Easter Cup at Addington on Saturday night.



In a repeat of this season’s New Zealand Cup finish the five-year-old filled the quinella with Spankem to set up a Hayden Cullen trained trifecta in the Group 1 3200m feature.

The comfortable watch for Self Assured’s backers came after he found the lead for driver Mark Purdon in the middle stages and then outsprinted his rivals with fast closing sectionals.

Incredibly, pulling off the second of two trifectas, completed by Amazing Dream’s third placing, may not have been Cullen’s biggest feat on Saturday.

Because having Self Assured primed to win his Group One staying test with just one 1980m race in the last eight weeks rates right up with them.

“It was probably the perfect race for him the way it panned out,” Cullen said.

“They didn’t go that hard which was probably ideal for him with the way he came into it.”

“When he made the front he was always going to be very hard to catch.”

The only problem Cullen is facing with the Jean Feiss owned Self Assured is what to do beyond next week.
Both the five-year-old and Amazing Dream are scheduled to return to Addington for the Group 2 Superstars Championship.

But beyond that the horse harness racing fans want to see the most may not be going anywhere.
“He will come back to Addington next week for the Superstars but after that there is not really a lot for him,” Cullen said.

“There is the Rangiora Classic later on but not much else, so I am not sure what we will do with him after that.”

“At this stage, Jean is keen to keep him in New Zealand, though that could change.”

“If there are not any more races programmed then the Maurice Holmes Vase (August-September) would just about be the next race we would be targeting.”

Spankem is in a similar position, but Amazing Dream has a clearly defined path with the Taylor Mile, New Zealand Messenger Championship and Harness Jewels on her schedule.

Credit : Harnesslink, 4 April 2021, Jonny Turner


Credit: Jonny Turner