PURTON RESPONDS TO CRITICISM FROM HAGGAS

By Graham Potter | Thursday, October 23, 2025

Zac Purton has responded to comments made by Maureen Haggas, wife of trainer of William Haggas, regarding the quality of Purton’s ride on Lake Forest in the King Charles 111 Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, in which the well supported second favourite finished last in the twelve-horse field.

Haggas was scathing in her remarks, describing it as ‘about worst ride I've seen in my entire life’ … and further ramping things up with, ‘I was appalled, absolutely appalled … it was just dreadful … I was horrified” … and, "Everyone knows he's a horse you have to tell him he's got to do it. And he knew that, he was told it, and he just sat there, like a big sissy.”

Talking on SENT rack & RSN’s Giddy Up program, Purton seemed more amused than offended.

“I thank her for her advice. I haven’t had time to watch the replay yet because I’ve been too busy watching replays of myself winning the $20 million Everest,” said Purton.

“I’m a little bit bemused at her take on the race, but she’s entitled to that, no problem.

“I followed Ceolwulf who went on to win the race, so I thought he was not too bad a horse to be following. He put seven lengths on me. As soon as they quickened my horse just went up and down in the one spot. He gave me no response at all.”

And Purton was also quick to jump to the defence of James McDonald who was also the target of criticism from Haggas for his ride on Sir Hawkens who was the favourite in the St Leger but who, after leading early, weakened to finish well beaten out of the placings.

“It just makes you realise how lucky we are with the jockeys we have in England, Ireland and France, when you compare them to the rides we got on Saturday which were really shockingly awful,” was the remark from Haggas which had Purton defending McDonald.

“Where she went a little bit too far was by dragging James McDonald into it as well,” stated Purton.

“He’s currently the world’s best jockey and she said we both gave our rides really shockingly awful rides’.

“The most disappointing part is that every time William Haggas has brought a horse to Australia we have championed him. We’ve been very happy for his success, We’ve welcomed him down. We’ve rolled the red carpet out for him and made him feel like he’s loved in Australia - and then they have one bad day and she falls off the rocking horse,” said Purton.

“It’s probably a bit much. She must've been on the drink."
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*Purton further enhanced his unsurpassed riding record in Hong Kong by landing his 1 900th win in Hong Kong at Happy Valley on Wednesday night. Douglas Whyte (1,813 Hong Kong wins) and Joao Moreira (1,240) are the only other riders to surpass the 1,000-win mark in Hong Kong. Purton, the eight-time Hong Kong Champion jockey, is currently again a clear leader in this season’s Jockey Championship.

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