Nathan Purdon’s homework was different to other teenagers.

Tonight at Bendigo, on one of Victorian trots iconic nights, he wants to show everybody what he learned.

Purdon has a massive shot at a Group 1 double with Amazing Dream in the $300,000 Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup and American Dealer in $200,000 Lather Up Victoria Derby, which would seem an incredible feat for a 25-year-old trainer if he didn’t have THAT last name.

It is the harness equivalent of Cummings or Hayes, a lineage that runs from the Godfather of Australasian harness racing, grandfather Roy Purdon, to Nathan’s father Mark, maybe the greatest trots trainer seen in this part of the world.

Hall Of Fame trainer Barry Purdon and New Zealand’s greatest reinsman Tony Herlihy are his uncles.

Nathan Purdon realised at a young age he had a lot to live up to and decided not to waste the opportunity.

“I worked for Dad for three years on and off once since I left school but also in the mornings and afternoons while I was still at school,” he said.

“When I had been doing it a while at the end of the day Dad would get me to write out a work list of what I would do with the horses the next day.

“He would sit there and write one too and then we would compare them. A lot of the time they were the same but when there was a difference I would ask him why.

“It was an amazing way to learn and taught me so much, especially about how to read the horse. Knowing when it is ready, when it needs more work or less.”

He may be a Purdon but he is also Nathan, independent enough to spend a large chunk of his adult life in Australia and now making Victoria his home.

“It has been beneficial to learn from other people too, but I try to train a lot like Dad, why wouldn’t I?”

While Mark trained Amazing Dream in New Zealand, Nathan has his own ties to her US-based owners who have eight horses with he and partner Mikayla Lewis, who train 22 in total.

The mare has been sensational at the elite level winning the Auckland Cup, Rising Sun, Blacks Of Fake and showing a new weapon in her arsenal when she sat three wide the last lap to win the Kilmore Cup last start.

“She is spot on now, really ready to go and both (driver Anthony Butt) and I would like to see her in front.

“If she gets there it is going to take something special, even from King Of Swing, to beat her. I think she is a very special mare on her way to becoming an all-time great.”

Nathan did an ET and phoned home on Wednesday, asking his father for advice on how to work American Dealer after a hard Derby heat and moderate blood report left him flat on Sunday.

“We talked about it and I think he will be right back where he needs to be for the Derby, but it is not an easy race.”

A Purdon with Purdon back-up and Anthony Butt doing the driving? The new era in Victorian harness racing is here.

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