Emotions at a premium following drought-breaking win

EMOTIONS were at a premium after Call Me Jack broke a long drought from the winners’ circle in Cranbourne last night.

Causing an upset as the rank outsider, Call Me Jack registered his first triumph since scoring in Maryborough on October 25, 2024.

Call Me Jack’s success also doubles as Matthew Purcell’s first training and driving win since Maryborough.

It should be noted Purcell has only had four drives between victories.

While the moment in the spotlight is cause for an emotional pause, the factor that resulted in Purcell returning to the cart is the main reason the win means so much to the horseman and his family.

Call Me Jack is usually driven by Purcell’s father-in-law Ian McMahon, who is sidelined after recently being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Purcell’s wife Tracey bred and owns Call Me Jack

“It is great to get a win from Jack,” Purcell said. “It means a lot to our family.

“Ian had pneumonia, and when they ran some tests on him, they discovered the prostate cancer, which was lucky, but not!

“He is booked to be operated on on July 31, and given he can’t drive, I’ve got the duties.”

Settled five-back along the pegs as Thats My Cardigan led the field in ‘Indian file’, Call Me Jack was three-wide around the home turn before sprinting to a three-metre win from Acool Investment.

Sovereign Tiger was four metres away third as the winner rated 2:03.1 over 2080 metres.

“I was somewhat confident with him as I thought he’d get a good trail, giving him a solid chance,” Purcell said. “We’ve had a lot of problems with his blood, and although he hadn’t raced for three months, he had been in work.

“I gave him a couple of trials to tighten him up a bit, so I knew he was ready to go.

“Last night’s run will really top him off and hopefully he can keep going as well.

“I’ve nominated him for Melton on Saturday night, so we’ll have to see how that goes.”