Roy Cleveland Purdon (16 February 1927 – 2 February 2022) was a New Zealand harness-racing trainer. He was New Zealand's leading trainer in 21 seasons, either on his own or in partnership with his son,

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

Early life and family

Purdon was born in the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

suburb of

Freemans Bay Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Hist ...

on 16 February 1927, the son of Hugh Purdon, a Scottish immigrant. When he was 14, he suffered an injury while playing rugby that resulted in his spending six weeks in hospital and six months with a cast around his hips, and left him with a permanent limp. In 1954, Purdon married Margaret Hughes, and the couple went on to have four children, including sons, harness-racing trainers Barry and

Mark Purdon Mark Purdon is a driver and trainer of standardbred racehorses in New Zealand. He was associated with many champions and is one of the leading trainers and drivers of harness horses in New Zealand and Australasia. He was inducted into the Inter D ...

, and daughter Suzanne, who married harness-racing driver

Tony Herlihy Anthony Grant Herlihy (born 4 October 1958) is a New Zealand driver and trainer of standardbred racehorses. He was associated with many champions and has been a leading driver of harness horses in New Zealand. In 2014, he was inducted into the N ...

Harness racing

Purdon began training with his father on a 400-metre track in

New Lynn New Lynn is a residential suburb in West Auckland, New Zealand, located 10 kilometres to the southwest of the Auckland city centre. The suburb is located along the Whau River, one of the narrowest points of the North Island, and was the locatio ...

, but it was from the 1970s until 1995 that he dominated harness racing in New Zealand and Australia. Over that period, he wom the New Zealand premiership for leading trainer 21 times, on his own or in partnership with son Barry. The pair trained four New Zealand cup winners: Sole Command in 1977; Luxury Liner in 1988;

Christopher Vance Christopher Vance (5 November 1986 – 13 December 2016) was a Group One-winning New Zealand Standardbred racehorse, trained by Roy and Barry Purdon and generally driven by Barry Purdon or Tony Herlihy. He was the 1991–92 New Zealand Horse of ...

in 1991; and finally

Chokin Chokin is a New Zealand Standardbred racehorse who was notable in winning the New Zealand Trotting Cup, which is New Zealand's most prestigious horse race. Chokin is also one of the few horses to have won Harold Park Paceway's prestigious Miracl ...

in 1993. In total, Purdon recorded 2019 race wins in New Zealand—1463 with Barry and 556 in his own right—including 54

Group One Group One, Group 1, Grade I or G1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. In Europe, the level of races for Thoroughbred racing is determined using the Pattern races, Pattern race sys ...

wins, as well as many more in Australia. In the

1989 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1989 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, Purdon was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to harness racing.

Later life and death

Purdon retired from training in 1995. He died in

Middlemore Hospital Middlemore Hospital is a major public hospital in the suburb of Otahuhu, Auckland, New Zealand. The hospital has approximately 800 beds. There are 24 operating theatres across two sites. History In 1943, during World War II, construction comme ...

, Auckland, on 2 February 2022, aged 94, having been predeceased by his wife, Margaret, in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purdon, Roy 1927 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Auckland New Zealand people of Scottish descent New Zealand racehorse trainers New Zealand harness racers New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire