Emotional win for Spellbound and Nathan Purdon

 

By Adam Hamilton

Next stop Sydney for brilliant former Kiwi mare Spellbound.

For all the success she’s had since joining Nathan Purdon in Victoria, last night she went to a new level when she led throughout and thrashed a good field in a 1min51.6sec mile rate in the $100,000 Group 1 Ladyship Cup (1720m).

Purdon fought back tears as he dedicated the win to his late grandfather Roy Purdon.

“It’s been a tough week, but this is a special way to end it,” he said.

Spellbound now heads to Sydney to chase Australia’s biggest mares’ feature, the $200,000 Group 1 Ladyship Mile at Menangle on February 26.

It was also a golden moment for former Kiwi and WA driver Stewie McDonald, who works for Purdon and was happy to let Spellbound roll.

“She’s brilliant. I revved her up before the start just to make sure nothing would get across us at the start. She did it so easily. I can’t wait to drive her in Sydney,” he said.

Spellbound will be accompanied north by Purdon’s other glamour girls, Amazing Dream and Amore Vita.

Meanwhile Cran Dalgety is just turning the page after the horror show that was Krug’s first attempt at qualifying for the Chariots Of Fire.

The young star galloped soon after the start as driver Jack Trainor looked to get across into the running line from an outside draw.

“Thankfully we’ve got another qualifier next week, so we’ll head there,” Dalgety said.

With Krug out of play, the talented Titian Raider – trained by Harry Martin of Double Identity fame - worked to the front and kept going to win well over Victorian raider Bettor Call Me in a 1min50.5sec mile in last night’s $50,000 Group 2 Hondo Grattan.

The race looked Krug’s for the taking after he opened his NSW raid with a powerhouse win against open-aged free-for-allers two weeks earlier.

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