Trainer-driver Mark Purdon admits Self Assured will need to be at his best in the inaugural running of Harness Racing New Zealand’s newest innovation - The Race.
The six-year-old gelding, who is co-trained by Hayden Cullen, is the race favourite for the $900,000 Listed event to be run over 2200m on Thursday night.
Purdon suggests the widest draw of barrier 8 favours the leaders at Cambridge, which could present a problem for Self Assured, but he is confident he will run well despite that disadvantage.
“It’s going to be the hardest draw and he’ll need to be at his best to overcome it,” Purdon said on SEN Track’s Bensley.
“But he’s capable of it.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of early speed on and that will help horses that don’t do the early work.
“It’s a five furlong track which probably does favour the leaders a little bit.
“There’s a couple of key runners and it will be interesting to see what they do.”
Purdon says The Race has already created plenty of interest and is keen to see the event evolve in coming years.
“It’s created a real buzz,” he added.
“Bringing the Australian runners over has given it a bit of spice and added to it.
“There’s a lot of hype around and good media coverage for the race. Next year the talk is they want to push it to $1 million which would be wonderful and keep building on it from there.”
Self Assured will run for owner Jean Feiss and Sports Entertainment Network (SEN), who own the slot for the first ever running of The Race.
SENZ, in conjunction with SEN, has seven lucky winners who will share in the prize if Self Assured is lucky enough to win.
SENZ will be broadcasting live from Cambridge Raceway from 7pm NZT (5pm AEST) in anticipation for The Race which is run at 8:55pm NZT (6:55 AEST).