“We ended up having some complications, so I think I have had six operations, although Katrina [his wife] tells me it is seven,” says Purdon.
“It was nobody’s fault, I was lucky enough to have an amazing surgeon who was a great guy but, when you are dealing with the body, same as in horses, things can go wrong.
“But I am good now and have been back driving quite a lot of track work.”
There is no secret reason why Purdon wants to partner Higher Power tomorrow, even though the young trotter potentially has $800,000 worth of feature races coming up before the end of the year.
“I could get somebody else to drive him, but I want to keep my hand in,” says the 70-year-old.
“I am enjoying driving track work, and I think being out there on racenight gives you a better idea of what is going on and maintains that connection.
“I won’t be driving a lot, or even all the time, but am looking forward to tomorrow night and being back out there. I’m quite excited.”
With so many young drivers having come through the ranks and Purdon being absent from the Alexandra Park driver’s room for six years, is he worried he might need to find a new locker?
“Funny you should mention that. I was in there the other day and they still have my name on my old locker where I used to sit every week, so I think I will be fine,” he laughs.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.