LANDMARK VICTORIES FOR PURTON AND FOWNES

By Hong Kong Jockey Club (Leo Schlink) | Sunday, April 24, 2022

Purton today became only the second jockey in history to ride 1,400 winners in Hong Kong after Douglas Whyte (1,813) when Tony Cruz’s Beauty Joy swept to victory in the Class 2 Bullish Luck Handicap (1600m).

“It (reaching 1,400 wins) just means I’ve had a lot of support and success in my time which is nice,” Purton said. “You can’t do it without the horses and the connections. I’ve had another good season. I’ve had a great career here. It’s nice.”

Asked if Whyte’s record was an objective, Purton, 39, said: “It’s there, it’s within touching distance. If I wanted to go for it, I can get it – we’ll see.”

Four-time champion trainer Caspar Fownes became only the fourth horseman in Hong Kong history to saddle 1,000 winners when Lucky Quality prevailed in the first section of the Class 4 Oriental Express Handicap (1200m) under Alfred Chan.

“It’s something to be proud of,” Fownes, 54, said after joining John Moore (1,735), John Size (1,395) and Tony Cruz (1,393) in an elite cluster. “I would not have got here without a lot of people that have helped me through my life. Very happy that we’ve hit the big 1,000 and looking forward to continuing to win some good races with my team and all the hard work we’ve done together.

“A big shout out to my wife (Alix), she’s my driving force, pushing me to be very successful – and my boys (Ryan, Ronan and Riley) – and I love her for that. We’ve been blessed, we’ve had so many good horses. There have been so many highlights, my first winner (Champion Boy in 2003) at the start of my career. It was ‘game on’ from then.”

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