Merlin may need some magic early

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Author: Michael Guerin
• Publication title: New Zealand Herald, The (Auckland, New Zealand)

Purdon and training partner Scott Phelan have three reps in the Group1 sprint at Alexandra Park but most eyes will be on Merlin, the last-start $1 million Race by Grins winner and maybe the best pacer in the country

Merlin has drawn one on the second line in the glamour sprint and if the horse he follows out, Republican Party, holds the lead and Merlin is sitting in the trail after 200m this is his race to lose.

But if Republican Party gets crossed, most likely by Kango or ironically Merlin’s stablemate Sooner The Better, Merlin could be locked away three back on the markers, waiting for a gap.

Gaps rarely appear in major Alexandra Park mile races.

“That about sums it up,” says Purdon. “We couldn’t be happier with him and the way he has come through the Race by Grins, he jumps seems to handling it all perfectly.

“But for this race so much depends on what happens around him and in front of him.

“I think Republican Party has some gate speed and being a mile I am sure he will want to use it but there is a big difference between being in the trail and three back and needing luck.”

Purdon thinks Sooner The Better also find himself in a sticky position tonight because he could burn plenty of energy early and set the race up for a swooper but if he goes back he has no chance.

The Taylor Mile is that type of race, often has been, with those in the marker pegs dominant unless somebody does something stupid and even though Kango will be long odds to win, if he leads he could easily pace 1:52 and those coming wide will be flat keeping up.

The most obvious swooper is Don’t Stop Dreaming, who nearly ran down a parked out...