Purdon pair primed for Fremantle Cup in Perth

Champion trainer Mark Purdon has made a statement that will send a collective shiver down the connections of rivals of his two runners in this weekend’s Fremantle Cup in Western Australia.

Purdon who, along with training partner Natalie Rasmussen, will slip a sulky onto both Lazarus and Ultimate Machete on Friday night for the A$300,000 Group One event, has revealed that both horses have improved off the back of their equallyimpressive victories on the same track a week ago.

For Lazarus alone that would be enough to have some trainers throwing their hands up in defeat after his demolition job last Friday night, but the inclusion of rising star Ultimate Machete as well will have many scrambling.

‘‘We have had a good week here,’’ Purdon said on his website. ‘‘I was happy with both the Cup horses runs last Friday and they have both improved.’’

Purdon has been overseeing the Perth team this week with travelling stable foreman, Matt Bowden now domiciled in Melbourne with the strong team they now have based there, following a successful Auckland Cup carnival at Alexandra Park.

Rasmussen will join Purdon and drive Ultimate Machete, who she piloted to win the New Zealand Free-For-All earlier this season and also the Sires’ Stakes Final as a three-year-old.

It’s a big step up for the fouryear-old, who is currently unbeaten in three starts in Western Australia.

‘‘His win maybe looked harder than what it was,’’ Purdon said of last week’s effort. ‘‘He has improved with that and from the draw should get his chance.’’

Lazarus, who will start from barrier five compared to Ultimate Machete’s barrier two, looked to have shown no ill effects from his Inter Dominion Series with his

12-metre demolition job in a

A$22,000 race last week. ‘‘Lazarus is pretty amazing really,’’ Purdon said. ‘‘He won it in such style last week and he has gone ahead again from there and worked really good this morning (Wednesday).

The All Stars duo won’t get it all their own way with some strong local resistance ready to try and repel the challenge.