Mark Purdon keeps his word even after driver’s Inter Dominion stuff-up
Michael Guerin • July 8th, 2025 9:37 AM • 4 min read
So he will resist any temptation to jump in the sulky behind Oscar Bonavena to try to put his campaign back on track at Albion Park in Brisbane this Saturday night.
Purdon and son Nathan train Oscar Bonavena, one of the favourites for the Ladbrokes Inter Dominion Trot series that culminates in a A$500,000 ($541,000) final on July 19.
But the millionaire trotter finds himself on the back hoof in the series after a first-round tactical stuff-up by driver Adam Sanderson.
The race should have been Oscar Bonavena’s to lose after favourite London To A Brick galloped early, but when Sanderson should have launched down the back straight the last time, he instead chose to sit in with cover.
Oscar Bonavena never got a clear run after that and finished seventh, leaving him in a precarious position as the pacing and trotting series this year only have two rounds of heats.
That means the Kiwi trotter needs a top three or four finish this Saturday to be guaranteed a spot in the final a week later.
Achieving that has potentially been made more difficult as he has drawn barrier one in his heat and he has been hit and miss from inside draws behind the mobile in the past two years.
Those factors could have combined to give Purdon the perfect excuse to jump back behind the veteran trotter this week but he said that won’t be happening.
“Adam put his hand up straight away and admitted he made a mistake and it was a very uncharacteristic mistake for him as he is a good driver.
“But he keeps the drive this week. He drove Oscar well in his first two starts over here and after those we said the Inter Dominion series drive was his.
“We are not going to go back on that because of one bad drive, that isn’t how we do things.”
Purdon isn’t sure what advice he can give Sanderson to help him negotiate a safe passage off the mobile start this Saturday.
“He [Oscar Bonavena] should be as safe as houses at his age and I have no idea why he has an issue with mobile starts sometimes these days.
“And it happens so fast when he does gallop he gives you no warning.
“So we just hope Adam can get him away evenly and if that means he gets crossed, hopefully the leader stays in front and he gets his chance.”
If he can make the final, Oscar Bonavena has a good chance of winning because it is over the longer trip and he would be a superior stayer to most of his rivals, with the exception of fellow Kiwi and Rowe Cup winner Bet N Win.
Bet N Win won the other trotting heat easing down last Saturday and should win again this Saturday. He could even start favourite in the final, which has few serious winning chances, the most obvious being TAB Trot winner Arcee Phoenix.
The pacing series appears to have only two real winning hopes in the last two Inter Dominion champs, Don Hugo and local hero Leap To Fame, who clash in a star-studded heat this Saturday.
Don Hugo has drawn the ace in that heat with Leap To Fame on his back at one on the second line, but the latter’s trainer-driver Grant Dixon said there will be no driving for luck.
“I don’t think I can afford to do that because that would give Don Hugo and Luke [McCarthy, driver] too much control of the race,” said Dixon.
“So I’m pretty sure I will be getting away from the markers as soon as I can and more than likely have to sit parked outside Don Hugo from at least the bell [1000m out].
“Larry’s greatest attribute is his strength, so if we have to use that then that is how it will be.”
There will be five Interdom heats this Saturday, three for pacers and two for trotters, before the pacers race for A$1 million in their final on the same night as the trotters on Saturday week.
(Click here for the futures markets for the Inter Dominion Trotting Finals, including Oscar Bonavena and Bet N Win, and for the Inter Dominion Pacing Finals, including Leap to Fame and Don Hugo)
This article first appeared on the New Zealand Herald website. Click here to see the original article
