Another milestone for Purdons

Press, 16 August 1988, Page 33

Another milestone for Purdons

PA Wellington Although Roy and Barry Purdon failed to reach 100 training wins for the 198788 season, they achieved another milestone by training the winners of $1 million in stake earnings. Besides being the first trainers in harness racing to achieve this, their final total of $1,476,092 was almost SIM ahead of their closest rival, Don Dwyer. The dominance of northern reinsmen, Tony Herlihy and Maurice McKendry, was clearly illustrated as they cleared out from the rest of the field in the race for driving honours. As with the Purdons, both drivers for the first time reached the magic milliondollar mark in stake money earned. Herlihy came out comfortably on top with $1,356,731, while McKendry’s winning drives earned $1,221,263. To get an idea of just how devastating these two drivers were, a record total of $16,139,777 was paid out in stakes during the season.

Herlihy and McKendry scooped $2,577,994 between them, representing 16 per cent of the total pool of all stakes paid.

From a total of 454 races at Alexandra Park, a staggering 117 of these were won by McKendry or Herlihy (59 and 58 respectively). The 1987-88 top 10 stake-earning trainers are:

Stakes $ R. and B. Purdon 87 1,476,092 D. Dwyer 21 483,404 P. O’Reilly jun. 29 482,010 B. O’Meara 23 386,223 R. Brosnan 34 310,257 0. Purdon 32 269,534 J. W. Smolensk! 26 268,240 R. Prendergast 20 257,350 P. Wolfenden 33 242,539 G. Harris 16 214,317 1987-88 top 10 stake-earning drivers: Stakes $ A. Herlihy 118 1,356,731 M. McKendry 127 1,221,263 R. Cameron 47 602,135 P. O’Reilly jun. 34 539,315 M. Purdon 51 466,199 M. de Filippi 69 429,213 A. Butt 44 369,150 R. May 42 365,562 D. Butcher 46 352,500 J. W. Smolensk! 38 346,920