Master harness trainer Roy Purdon dies at the age of 94 after brief illness

Roy Purdon, arguably the most successful harness trainer in New Zealand history, has died just a couple of weeks short of his 95th birthday.

Roy, who died last night in hospital, won 21 training premierships, notching 2021 winners in a spectacular career.

He watched his first New Zealand Cup at Addington in 1937 and 40 years later trained the first of his four New Zealand Cup winners with Sole Command, followed by Luxury Liner (1988), Christopher Vance (1991) and Chokin (1993).

Roy was the first trainer in either code to train 100 winners in a season, his 102 tally in 1987 was 27 more than the previous record of 75 which he set with son Barry in 1982/83.

He achieved the feat of winning 13 premierships on end, the last 10 in partnership with Barry, first topping the list in 1970-71, then four seasons later shared the title with Charlie Hunter, each with a record 67 wins.

Roy’s 1000th winner came on September 21, 1985, with the Max Harvey-owned filly Kiwi River.

Patron of the Auckland Trotting Club, he was awarded an MBE in 1988.

Barry, who like brother Mark has forged his own top career as a trainer, tells on his website how his father became started with horses.

In about 1946 Roy found an old running track in Mt Roskill, where he cut down gorse, got a small track up and running, and started to break in horses.

The late historian Ron Bisman recalled how Roy started out in the game as a 17-year-old just after World War II, when his father, Hugh, was given a few horses to train by the famous horseman of his day, the late F J (“Wizard”) Smith.

Hugh Purdon leased a property at New Lynn, and, with Roy as his right-hand man, their venture into the harness racing sport began. It was a hard struggle. As well as aiding his dad, Roy had a night-shift job, so was kept constantly busy. Father and son battled along, and gradually their team of horses increased, leading them to lease boxes at Mt Roskill from trotting enthusiast Alf Taylor.

With the Purdon team on the increase, a bigger set up was necessary, so Hugh then rented the Mangere property of Brian and Ash Ogilvie. Purdon-trained winners were by this time becoming more frequent, and, after two more years, the Purdons bought a property at Pukekohe. Roy stayed with his father about four and a half more years before branching out on his own.

His first break came when Doug McAlpine offered Roy a property at Te Awamutu with a five-furlong track. Roy accepted and with a team of six horses began making his imprint on the list of the country’s trotting trainers.

When he had been training a year, Roy married Margaret Hughes, sister of Pukekohe horseman Jack Hughes, and a nationally prominent golfer. With Margaret at his side, Roy continued to go from strength to strength in the profession that has been the livelihood of so many Purdon family members throughout New Zealand - including his brothers Sandy and Les, who both enjoyed their share of success as northern professional trainers.

The inception of night trotting in Auckland (on New Year’s Eve 1958) prompted Roy to move closer to the hub of the sport, and in 1959 he bought 10 acres alongside the Pukekohe training track. With Arnie Gadsby as his foreman, Roy soon had a team of between 20 to 25 in work at Pukekohe, with the first star of his stable Governor Frost, winner of 14 races for Waiuku owner Charlie Hadley.

Roy doing the form with Sole Command, winner of two heats during the 1978 Interdominion series in MelbourneRoy first won the Great Northern Derby in 1958 with Charlie Blackwell’s Call Boy, then won it again with Governor Frost in 1966 - driven by Peter Wolfenden, who became first driver for Roy’s stable.

The Purdon/Wolfenden combination dominated northern harness racing through the 1970s, but in more recent years, Roy’s sons Barry, Owen, Mark and son-in-law Tony Herlihy did the bulk of the Purdon stable driving.

Roy recalls his first winning drive was behind a horse called Whistler, trained by his father, who scored at Awapuni in April, 1949.

His last driving win at a tote meeting was with Jack Sprat at Alexandra Park on November 14, 1970. A hip injury shortly after this forced an early retirement from the sulky.

In 1972, he bought his present-day establishment at Clevedon, with it’s 900-metre track originally laid by Monty and Sonny Baker.

Ably assisted by Owen (who started work with his dad when the family moved to Clevedon) and Barry (who joined the stable in 1973 after two years with Charlie Hunter at Cambridge), Roy continued in the limelight.

Purdon stars in the 1970s - generally with Wolfenden at the helm - included 1977 New Zealand Cup and 1978 Auckland Cup winner Sole Command, and 1977 Rowe Cup winner Framalda.

Melton Monarch won the 1981 Great Northern Derby and the NZ Messenger the following season with Barry the driver, while Wolfenden guided the Max Harvey-owned Billbob to his $100,000 Two-year-old Sires’ Stakes Final win in 1984, Tony Herlihy piloted the Harvey-owned Comedy Lad to his 1986 Auckland Cup win, and Brent Mangos did the honours at the top level with Luxury Liner.

Dad and sons, from left, Mark, Barry and Owen.