HK JAN 12 - FOUR-TIMER FOR PURTON

By Hong Kong Jockey Club | Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Caspar Fownes-trained Windicator Star kept up his good form to take the Class 3 Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup (Handicap) over 1000m at Sha Tin Racecourse today, Saturday, 12 January, after opening his Hong Kong account two weeks ago in the Mars Handicap over the distance at Happy Valley.

Windicator Star broke well from gate 12 under Zac Purton and was able to relax behind pacesetters Xi Ying Men and Hawthorne. The four-year-old gradually moved up and started to power off his rivals with 300m remaining. He kept accelerating strongly in the concluding stages to beat runner-up Hawthorne by one and a quarter lengths, taking the feature event in a time of 57.02s. Dynamic Voyage made up some ground to finish third, a further neck behind.

Winning trainer Fownes said Windicator Star is a great horse with potential and if he keeps improving he will have a bright future.

“It was a nice win. The horse was in good form and hopefully he mentally gets better, and hopefully he will keep going. We worked hard on him so it’s nice that it's all come together in nice order. He has a very good future as long as he keeps learning and progressing the way he is doing and he has a bright future in Hong Kong,” said the trainer, who added that his rising star could handle the longer trip of 1200m.

The in-form Purton extended his lead in the Jockeys’ Championship as he landed an amazing four-timer on the day with Windicator Star winning today’s feature and Hurry Hurry Up, Mr Ginger and Racing Hero adding to his tally.

Zac Purton