Mark Purdon has trained six of the last seven New Zealand Cup winners.
Betting on the Cup starts to warm up with Self Assured closing in on $2 and Copy That solid
By Barry Lichter • 9 November 2021
After a sluggish start to betting on today’s IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup, the money is finally starting to come for Self Assured.
Since bookies posted $2.70 for the cup favourite earlier in the week when he drew the second row, the money has been only trickling in, the latest bets $900 at $2.40, $800 at $2.40 and last night the biggest of $2500 at $2.30.
But TAB Risk Analyst Matthew Peden expects Self Assured to start closer to $2 than $2.50 once the big players warm up later in the day.
“Betting has been sluggish, punters aren’t stepping in to the favourites so much because they’re short, but it’s picking up now.
“And once the Aussie money starts to come for Mark and Natalie, I’m sure Self Assured will get shorter. But I’m not sure the market will react so much to South Coast Arden.”
South Coast Arden had drifted this morning to $4.80.
Mark Purdon will be out to extend an unprecedented winning run in the cup, having taken the last five cups on end and six of the last seven, with Adore Me (2014), Lazarus (2016 and 2017), Thefixer (2018), Cruz Bromac (2019) and Self Assured (2020).
Best punted on the card
One horse in the famous blue with silver stars livery that has been heavily punted is American Pride who goes round in the opening trot for Purdon.
A succession of bets has seen his price cut from $3.30, the latest this morning $1000 at $2.30, making him the best backed horse on the entire card.
Support for Copy That in the cup has been steady, with bets of $800 at $4.50, two $500 bets at $4.50 and $1000 at $3.80.
In the futures market, Copy That took $500 at $6.50 and two bets of $200 at $6.
Outside of the top four favourites, Bad To the Bone is the best backed but Peden reports plenty of $200 and $300 bets on Classie Brigade to run top 3.
Laver and Vintage Cheddar account for 90% of the top 4 hold but with 73% of the field at $41 and longer, he says total betting has been somewhat stifled.
A special punters’ club set up by the Addington club had reached $75,000 by 9.30am this morning with expectations it will top $100,000 when the pool closes at 1pm.
More news in Harness
Hopes for a good Friday night at the Park as blinds go on Wave, Sammy and Prince
Sugar Ray signals start of good year ahead with tough win; blinkers for Lincoln Wave
Winners and losers in dates for the new season - your month by month harness guide
Ray: Sammy Lincoln has ‘turned the corner’ and can go on with it on Friday night
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 1: Angelic Copy
4.53pm
“She’s done everything right and trialled really nicely. I think she’s forward enough to give some cheek. She’s only small. You like to think when you get a good two-year-old like her that they’ll get stronger and transition into a nice three-year-old but she hasn’t grown an inch. But she tries hard and enjoys being out there.”
Race 2: Major Copy
5.28pm
“I’m looking forward to seeing him. You never really know ’til you get to the races but he’s trialled well enough to start and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went a good race, despite the draw. He’s a nice sensible colt who’s done nothing wrong and he could develop into a really nice three-year-old.”
Race 6: Lincoln Wave
7.22pm
“He was starting to get into the habit of switching off so we trained him in blinds this week and he went pretty well. He was good from a standing start at the trials with shorteners in and Maurice was actually quite bullish about his standing start manners and thinks that, in time, he’ll end up being a quick beginner. If he steps well, and can land in the first one or two, he’ll definitely be hard to get round.”
Race 6: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.22pm
“He’s not spectacular from a stand but he will get away, albeit sometimes a bit slowly. Lincoln Wave has more speed than him but if it comes down to a slugfest he’d be too strong as he’s rock hard fit.”
Race 8: Prince Lincoln
8.23pm
“The blinds go back on this week and if he steps and leads like he did three starts ago that would make him the one to beat. He showed with that win that he’s above average and will be a serious chance.”
Race 8: Rivergirl Bella
8.23pm
“You could argue she’s a Cambridge horse but sometimes when you throw them in with the bear cats they lift their game and I thought she was really good here last week. Tony (Cameron) said she’d have finished a bit closer too if he hadn’t had to take hold of her close to home (when he ran out of room and hit a marker pole).”
Race 8: Sammy Lincoln
8.23pm
“We’ve got blinds on him this week. Harry said he lost concentration a couple of times last week, including at the top of the straight, and thought he’d be a bit more on to it with blinds on. I still thought his was the run of the race last time - none of the others could have done what he did - and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him score.”
