Herlihy broke 10-year record

Press, 3 August 1985, Page 27

Herlihy broke 10-year record

By JEFF SCOTT The leading reinsman, Tony Herlihy, leading trainers, Roy and Barry Purdon, and leading junior reinsman, Anthony Butt, all achieved notable milestones in their careers in the 198485 season. Herlihy, aged 26, broke a 10-year record previously held by Peter Wolfenden when he notched an unprecedented 112 driving successes in New Zealand last season. The Pukekohe-based horseman became only the second driver to gain more than 100 wins in a season in this country when he drove six winners at Hawera on May 28, and eclipsed Wolfenden’s previous best of 101 wins in a season. The Ardmore trainers, Roy and Barry Purdon, became equally New Zealand’s most successful trainers by taking their eighth consecutive trainers premiership with 48 wins. This equalled J. Bryce’s previous record of eight premierships early this century. However only two of Bryce’s premierships were in succession. Although well below their national record for a single season of 75 wins, set back in the 1982-83 term, they ran out comfortable winners from Templeton’s Derek Jones and Pukekohe’s Mike Stormont on 31 apiece. Before taking his son, Barry, into partnership, Roy Purdon had also won the previous two premierships outright, and had deadheated in the 1974-75 season with Charlie Hunter. The Templeton junior driver, Anthony Butt, set a national record of 55 wins for a junior, eclipsing the record of 50 wins set by his uncle, Peter Jones, back in the 1975-76 season. With his record tally this season he finished a merito-

rious third to Herlihy and Peter Wolfenden on the national drivers premierships, thus becoming the leading South Island reinsman. Butt had won the junior drivers title in his debut season the previous term with 29 wins. The leading trotting drivers and trainers for the 1984-85 season were.— DRIVERS A. Herlihy 112, P. Wolfendon 67, A. Butt 55, C. de Filippi 53. M. McKendry 45, O. Purdon 41, M. de Filippi, R. May and K. O’Reilly 40. G. Harris 38, R. Brosnan 37, D. Butcher 36, P. Jones 35. A. Scobie 34, P. G. O’Reilly jun 31, I. Cameron 30, H. Skinner 28. J. Carmichael, A. Hunter and J. Langdon 25, J. Hay and T. Knowles 23. B. Purdon 22, A. Malcolmson 21 and J. Smolenski 20. TRAINERS R. and B. Purdon 48, D. Jones and M. Stormont 31, S. Butcher 30. A. Hunter and P. Wolfendon 29, R. Brosnan and H. Purdon 26. M. and O. Nicholas 24, I. Cameron 20, J. Carmichael and P. G. O’Reilly sen 18. R. Dunn and D. Gibbons 17, M. Berger, G. Harris, B. and J. Hughes, J. Langdon and P. O’Reilly jun 16. P. Davis, C. de Filippi, W. Fletcher, G. Hillier, A. Malcolmson, J. Smolenski and K. Vincent 15. JUNIOR DRIVERS A. Butt 55, D. Butcher 36, P. Baker 18, B. Mangos 16, J. Stormont 10. D. Balle, C. Barron, A. Beck, D. Butt, G. O’Reilly and G. Wolfenden 9. P. Butcher and S. Hayes 8, L. Bebbington, G. Hope, B. McLellan, L. O’Reilly and M. Perriton 7, V. Hillmer and S. Pavlovich 6.