The build-up for Hong Kong’s showpiece event, the Hong Kong International Races on December 11, could not be going any better for champion jockey Zac Purton.
Fresh from breaking the record for the most wins by a jockey at the Happy Valley track last week, Purton set yet another new record on Sunday for the quickest half century of winners in a season in Hong Kong.
It was Doug Whyte’s record that he surpassed at Happy Valley and this time Purton’s fifty winner in 184 rides bettered the previous best of 189 rides set by Joao Moreira in the 2015/16 season. Purton’s own pervious personal best for the first fifty winners was 219 rides.
With Moreira no longer riding in Hong Kong, it appears to have opened up a great divide between Purton and the rest of the field in the jockey’s ranks.
That, in no way, can detract from Purton’s sublime form and the maximum use he makes of his opportunities.
Even at this early stage of the season, it would appear that Purton is going to be virtually unstoppable in his quest for a sixth Hong Kong Jockey Champion title.
Purton ride five winners at Sha Tin on Sunday and, with a 27.5% winning strike rate, Purton’s 51 winners for the season currently sees him placed no less than 30 winners clear of Vincent Ho on the jockey’s ladder.
*Hugh Bowman has also hit the ground running since taking up a three-month riding contract in Hong Kong recently. Ever-competitive, Bowman has already put four winners on the board from his first twenty-three rides.
