PURTON KEEPS PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

By Darren Winningham | Monday, November 28, 2022

Purton rushed to 50 winners at only his 184th ride for the season on Sunday 27 November at Sha Tin. This surpassed Joao “The Magic Man” Moreira’s record of 50 wins from 189 rides in 2015/16 and Purton’s own previous best of 50 victories from 219 mounts in 2021/22.

This achievement is hot on the back of breaking Douglas Whyte’s record on Wednesday night (23 November) for the most wins at Happy Valley with his 574th success on this wonderful inner city racing circuit centrally located on Hong Kong Island amongst the skyscrapers of business and residential buildings.

Can anyone stop the Australian?

With Moreira retiring from Hong Kong racing with a special appearance at Sha Tin for the Longines Hong Kong International Races to come as a farewell to the city that has seen him ride more than 1200 winners, win four jockey’s premierships and 21 Group One victories. At this stage he is confirmed to ride the Japanese trained Resistencia in the HK$24 million Sprint and Lei Papale in the HK$34 million Cup.

With the departure of Australian Blake Shinn and injuries to Karis Teetan and Alexis Badel who had a nasty fall on 20 November at Sha Tin the ranks are a little thin presently in Hong Kong, although the arrival of Hugh Bowman may see the Purton plundering paused in coming weeks as Bowman rides winners and forms good relationships with trainers and owners in Hong Kong.

Zac Purton is always driven by ambition and riding for purpose – he has announced that his primary focus at this stage is to reach the Hong Kong record of 170 winners in a season set by Joao Moreira in the 2016-17 season.

With his continued juggernaut of success, if he remains injury free for the 2022/23 season he should be in prime position to secure this remarkable achievement and rewrite the Hong Kong history books yet again.

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