An offer he simply could not refuse is the reason Nathan Purdon has delayed his return home.
Purdon has been in Australia for 18 months for stints in Queensland, Victoria and WA, but was starting to pack his bags last month.
Then came a phone call from Tony Herlihy.
“I was all set to return home to work for Dad (Mark) when Tony asked if I would take Ohoka Punter to Queensland and look after him for the big winter races,” Purdon said.
“How can you say no to training a seriously good horse like him.
“I’d had a fair to bit to do with the horse when he was down in Melbourne and Ohoka was with Amanda Grieve (where Purdon was based).”
Purdon and Ohoka Punter headed north “about three weeks ago” and the top class pacer opened his Queensland campaign in fantastic style with an Albion Park win last Saturday night.
The six-year-old sat parked outside his main danger, Majestic Mach, and won in dominant style by 1.6m in a sizzling 1min52.4sec mile rate for 1660m.
“Gee I was impressed with him” Purdon said. “He was never going to lose.
“He’s not the sort of horse who wins by much, but he did that pretty easily and ran good time.
“He should improve too. It’s good to have the time for another lead-up race or two before the big ones.
“There’s another race for him a fortnight and then there is a $30,000 race to kick-start the Carnival up here.”
Purdon said his plan was take Ohoka Punter through the Queensland Carnival and then both will head home.
“Tony’s plan is to set Ohoka Punter for the Perth Inter Dominion if he comes through this carnival well,” Purdon said.
“So it looks like I’ll head home to work for Dad when my work is done up here.”
Purdon said he has been watching in awe from Australia as his father and co-trainer Natalie Rasmussen have dominated on both sides of the ditch.
“It’s incredible and somehow the stable seems to keep getting stronger each year,” he said.
By Adam Hamilton