Zac Purton started as he meant to go on at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday displaying aggression, poise and rhythmic strength to win the Class 5 opener. He followed that with a barnstorming late-card four-timer to earn five on the day, and with it, impetus in his long, understated challenge for this season’s champion jockey title.
The haul matched the Australian’s five-win return at the track on 13 May last year.
“It’s not a bad day,” Purton said, with an almost-grin and feigned indifference, after his fifth victory on the aptly-named Simply Brilliant (122lb).
That score came in the Class 2 Sapphire Handicap (1600m) and was achieved at the expense of his prime rival, champion jockey Joao Moreira. Purton’s mount responded to every urging in the closing exchange, the son of Frankel edging out the Moreira-ridden Easy Go Easy Win (125lb) by a neck.
“He’s been a difficult horse, hanging in his races and doing things wrong, and he was still quite keen for the first five or six hundred metres today,” Purton said of Simply Brilliant. “Once he relaxed he got into a nice rhythm and I really like the way he fought, he just kept sticking his head out to the line.
“He’s bred to get a bit further but he doesn’t have the brain for it at the moment. He’s a lightly-framed horse and I think maybe next season he could furnish and step up a little bit more.”
Simply Brilliant and Zac Purton, picture Hong Kong Jockey Club
The British import, sixth in the Britannia Handicap (1600m) at Royal Ascot last term, gave trainer Frankie Lor a second win for the afternoon. The handler provided Moreira with a win, too, aboard Right Call in race three; Lor, like most, is a big fan of both riders.
“Some owners like to have great jockeys riding their horses, so I try to get Zac and Joao whenever I can, I like using them both but it’s not easy to get them,” he said.
With 30 race meetings remaining in Hong Kong’s 88-card campaign, Purton knows that there is a long road still ahead in his tussle with premiership leader and thrice-reigning champion Moreira, the man who usurped him as champion in 2015.
With the Brazilian ace kicking home two winners today, Purton drew to within six of the premiership leader. But Lor pointed out one factor that makes Purton’s title attempt a tough challenge.
“Zac cannot ride light,” he said. Moreira, though, can.
Purton kicked off today’s action aboard the Manfred Man-trained Ever Strong, winning at odds of 11/1. That came on the dirt track and the rider went on to take all three races on the inner circuit; the Michael Freedman-trained Elite Boy, the 2.3 favourite, charged six lengths clear to win the 1200m Class 4; and Purton measured to perfection Perpetual Treasure’s (3.6) front-running neck win for trainer Benno Yung in the Class 3 over the same trip.
Purton made it four in tandem with the impressive Baltic Whisper. Danny Shum’s charge blazed the 1000m straight in 56.22s to win at odds of 4.3.
Moreira completed his double atop the Peter Ho-trained Audacity, the 3.2 favourite in the Class 4 Emerald Handicap (2000m). The champ was foiled in the last when the inexperienced Raging Storm, sent off the 1.5 favourite, did plenty wrong and finished only seventh behind Regency Bo Bo. Apprentice Matthew Poon steered the Tony Cruz-trained 9.9 chance to victory.
