Zac Purton closes on 2,000 as key chances face ratings rise at Happy Valley

Zac Purton moved within two wins of becoming the first jockey to ride 2,000 winners in Hong Kong with a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday and has eight chances to reach the milestone at Happy Valley on Wednesday night. 

Purton has spent the past few seasons turning Hong Kong racing’s milestones into his own.

He broke Douglas Whyte’s long-standing record of 1,813 Hong Kong wins when he reached 1,814 at Happy Valley in January last year. That followed his record-setting 2022-23 season, when he rode 179 winners to beat Joao Moreira’s single-season mark of 170, reached 50 wins faster than any jockey in Hong Kong history and set a prize-money record of HK$277,712,060. 

His record stretches across the biggest races, too. Purton’s win on Exultant in the 2020 QEII Cup made him the only jockey to have won every Group 1 on the Hong Kong calendar, while another 100-win season this year has reinforced his consistency in the saddle towards 2,000 Hong Kong wins.

Whether Wednesday night is the night remains another question. Asked at trackwork on Tuesday morning if his book could deliver the two wins needed, Purton was not getting carried away.

He had not looked into Wednesday’s card in detail, which is not unusual, as he likes to study the form as close to the races as possible. That did not stop him offering a read on David Hayes’ class-dropper Withallmyfaith (Race 3), even though it will be his first race ride on the five-year-old as he dips into Class 4 for the first time.

“He can be a little bit strong in his races, but he’s honest. He runs well and runs the same race nearly every time,” Purton said.

The Purton ‘class-dropper’ angle is popular with form students for good reason. Per statistics from Hong Kong database expert and analyst Sohil Patel, Purton has had 238 rides on horses dropping in grade at Happy Valley and has won 50 times and finished second or third another 62, a 21 percent win strike rate and an 18.6 percent return on investment. That sits above his overall Happy Valley strike rate of 17.9 percent, built from 742 wins from 4,152 rides.

He is tracking at a similar level with the profile this season, winning three of 14 rides on horses dropping in class at Happy Valley at 21.4 percent, with a 7.1 percent return on investment. Spirit Of Peace also fits the angle on Wednesday night, returning to Class 4 for the first time since July last year when he was last successful.

The bigger question may be how two of Purton’s last-start winners handle their 10-point penalties. Armor Golden Eagle for Mark Newnham and Honest Witness for Hayes both won effortlessly at Happy Valley 28 days ago, with Honest Witness scoring by four and three-quarter lengths and Armor Golden Eagle by three and three-quarter lengths.

Purton was not ruling out either horse backing up, but he knows plenty still needs to fall into place. 

“Honest Witness has always promised to deliver a bit more than what he has, but he got into a nice rhythm and capitalized on that last start. He might have taken some confidence out of that.

“Armor Golden Eagle had the perfect run last time and got the job done,” he said. “It’s not easy when you get a run like that, get whacked 10 points and then can’t find the same run again. I need things to go our way there.

Even so, Purton’s record in this narrow profile is hard to ignore. In the most recent 10 examples in which he rode a Happy Valley last-start winner at its next run after a 10-point rating rise, seven won and another two ran second.

The winners were Keep You Warm, Gorgeous Vitality, Raging Blizzard, Sports Legend, Packing Hermod, View Of The World and Giant Ballon, while Lightning Storm and Tomodachi Kokoroe both placed second. Armour Eagle’s seventh was the only result outside the first two. 

Purton’s remaining rides are not without hope. He partners Exceed The Wish for Newnham in the opener for the first time, while Management Folks has missed the top three only once in seven starts under him. Crossborderdude and Purton have won once and placed four times from five, and Horsepower arrives off back-to-back seconds with the champion jockey aboard.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓