Solid State a picture of calm in Purton's morning gallops

Zac Purton has found a surprisingly relaxed Solid State in trackwork ahead of his first race ride on Frankie Lor Fu-chuen's boom four-year-old, although the champion jockey is curious whether those manners will last once the gates open.

Purton takes over from Alexis Badel following Solid State's defeat over the straight 1,000 meters last month and has partnered him in two gallops since, discovering a rather different character from the "fierce" type who made such an impression on debut.

“He's moving well in the mornings. He's quite a nice horse to ride — well-balanced and quite relaxed, actually,” Purton told The Standard.

“Which is different to the impression we got of him on his first start, where he seemed to run along and look a bit fierce. But he's not like that in the mornings. He's pretty chilled, actually.”

Solid State certainly gave the impression of a horse going places when he won his first Hong Kong start by 5¼ lengths over 1,200 meters at Sha Tin on July 4, the biggest winning margin by a Private Purchase on local debut in at least 20 years.

The performance earned the son of Snitzel a rare 12-point handicap rise from 66 to 78, but he had to settle for second on his return over the straight 1,000 meters on September 13, beaten 1¼ lengths. Purton, however, was encouraged by the way he finished.

“I thought his first run up the straight this season was good. He looked like he got run off his legs, and he looked as if he was struggling, but he seemed to pick up again late and was getting to the line nicely.”

But whether the relaxed Solid State Purton has come to know in the mornings turns up on race day is another matter.

“He might not be like that on race day… I guess I’ll find out, won't I?”

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓