Zac Purton realistic as record-breaking season reaches crescendo at Sha Tin

Records have been an overarching theme of yet another stellar season for Hong Kong champion jockey Zac Purton but the Australian-born rider, who will land his third title when the campaign draws to a close at Sha Tin on Sunday, remains realistic about the prospect of him breaching the hallowed figure of 170 winners in a single year.

Purton, who secured his first jockeys title in 2013-14 when breaking the 13-year tenure of Douglas Whyte, followed up with a second win last season, and while the hat-trick of championships has long been a formality, the likelihood of him toppling the 170 landmark has proved the more pertinent discussion topic in recent weeks.

That benchmark was set by three-time champion and current title runner-up Joao Moreira in 2016-17 and while Purton – whose tally stands at 166 successes across an all-conquering year – has ten opportunities to ride the five winners he requires for a history-making afternoon, the 36-year-old is philosophical heading into the 11-race card.

Aerovelocity and Zac Purton after winning The Longines Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin in 2016Credit: Hugh Routledge

"I haven’t really felt like I’ve had the quality horses at the back-end of the season to be able to get to that mark," Purton told ANZ Bloodstock News.

"I’m very happy and comfortable with what I’ve been able to achieve and the season I’ve had, so if I’m not able to get there I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

"I didn’t think I’d be able to get to the mark that I’ve got to. The weight I ride at restricts the opportunities I get. Basically 25 per cent of horses in most races I can’t make the weight on, which makes it incredibly hard to get the right opportunities all of the time to push as hard as I have. I’ve been surprised with how well I’ve been able to do."

Looking ahead to Sunday’s book of rides, Purton added: "Of course, I’d like to get there if I can, but I’m just going to need my horses to man-up and deliver something that they haven’t been able to so far.

"There aren’t any horses I feel I can rely on as a winner – there are a couple of horses there that might be able to run handy races, but I’ve drawn some awkward barriers. I’m not going there thinking ‘at least I’ll get that one or that one’ – they’re all going to need things to go their way."

In a year Purton has not simply rewritten the record books but reshaped the parameters by which elite-level success is defined in Hong Kong, his achievements are quite simply remarkable.

Of the 12 Group 1 races run this season, he has won seven of them. He has also ridden four individual six-timers, smashed the record for prize-money accumulated in a campaign – his figure of HK$233.4 million is already HK$26 million more than the previous mark – while last month he became only the second jockey to ride more than 1,000 career winners in the jurisdiction, victory aboard Thanks Forever moving him into four-figure territory only the legendary Whyte had occupied previously.

However, by his own admission, the overriding highlight of Purton’s campaign has been his season-long association with Beauty Generation, the outstanding champion who was on Friday crowned Hong Kong horse of the year for the second time following his own record-breaking exploits.

The seven-year-old won all eight of his starts this season - a Hong Kong record – while his four Group 1 triumphs saw him eclipse Viva Pataca as the all-time leading prize-money earner in Hong Kong history – achievements that provided the main propulsion for Purton’s own successes.

"The one thing I will probably look back on is my association with Beauty Generation," Purton said. "Him going unbeaten, breaking the prize-money record, which in turn helped me break the prize-money record - that was very satisfying and I hope it can roll on next season."

Regarding the 127-rated gelding, who is also the joint-highest rated horse in Hong Kong history, Purton added: "He’s basically just like a runaway train – you’ve just got to strap yourself in and hang on for the ride. The key to him is not going too slow – you’ve got to keep his revs up and keep him galloping along and he basically gallops the opposition into the ground."

When asked if Beauty Generation is the best horse he’s sat on, Purton replied: "I think he is. He can do things other horses can’t – that’s what separates him from the rest."

Beauty Generation has also been the flagbearer for unwavering Hong Kong presence John Moore, a seven-time champion trainer who is locked in a thrilling tussle with his old adversary John Size as the battle to claim top honours reaches a tense culmination.

The tally currently stands at 76-74 in favour of Size, but Purton is hoping that Moore can launch a last-gasp effort having struck up a fruitful association with his stable in recent years, although he acknowledged the interest elicited by such intense competition between two outstanding trainers.

John Moore: 'He’s only got to look at a horse and he knows exactly where it is in its preparation'Credit: Hkjc

Purton said: "I’ve been in the John Moore corner if you like and we’ve had a tremendous amount of success this season, not just with Beauty Generation, but our strike rate is up at around 40 per cent, which is unbelievably high for the amount of times we’ve combined together in such a competitive environment.

"It was good to see him level up with John Size at Happy Valley, but then Size kicked a couple in the back of the net and got a bit of a breather in again. It’s going to go down to the wire.

"I always say I think competition is great – it’s what attracts people to sport and what makes people become involved in it. It’s good to see it as tight as it is and I just hope it comes down to the last race and has everyone on the edge of their seat."

Moore will retire at the end of next season under the Hong Kong Jockey Club mandate that no trainer can hold a licence beyond the age of 70. That figure was originally 65 before the rules were amended when Moore himself reached the milestone five years ago, and Purton is ebullient when praising the achievements of his fellow Australian.

When asked what makes Moore so successful, Purton said: "It’s his attention to detail – it’s all of the one per centers that he does. He sits in the trainer’s stand and you can just see him studying all of the horses as they go past every morning. He’s only got to look at a horse and he knows exactly where it is in its preparation or what he needs to do differently to get it right.

"Just talking to him, his thought process and the things he does behind the scenes, he makes sure things are done properly and that’s why he’s been as successful as he has."

The presence of Moore as a Hong Kong figurehead might be about to dim, but Purton is phlegmatic when comprehending riding without one of his closest allies.

"My job as a freelance jockey is to try and get on the best horse in every race, whether John Moore trains it or whether someone else trains it," he said.

"It’s going to be a shame when John goes because we’ve been so successful recently, but it will open the door and give the opportunity to someone else to try and step up to the plate. Who that will be, I’m not sure, but hopefully I will be in their corner."

In a jurisdiction where race meetings occur only twice a week and a pool of highly talented jockeys are in fierce competition to sit on their most capable equine counterparts, Purton’s rivalry with Joao Moreira has been a narrative as fascinating as Moore’s and Size’s own personal showdown.

Moreira stood no chance of claiming top honours this year having originally departed for Japan at the end of last season, only to make a dramatic u-turn midway through the campaign and return as stable jockey to Size, although Purton and Moreira were locked in a close-knit dogfight for the mantle of champion jockey last year.

Zac Purton on Joao Moreira: 'He’s probably the most naturally-gifted rider I’ve ever ridden against'Credit: Vince Caligiuri

Purton eventually prevailed with a tally of 136, but he paid heed to the talents of the rider dubbed the ‘magic man’ when reflecting on their rivalry, noting how he has influenced his own approach to jockeyship.

Purton said of Moreira, who rode 145, 168 and 170 winners respectively when claiming three successive jockeys premierships from 2014-15 to 2016-17: "He’s probably the most naturally-gifted rider I’ve ever ridden against.

"Coming from a different background in South America, which is a jurisdiction I had no experience with at all, seeing him come here and studying his style – how he does it and what makes him so special - I've certainly been able to incorporate some of that into what I do and there’s no doubt it has improved me a lot as a rider.

"I’ve enjoyed the rivalry we’ve had – we’ve had a friendly rivalry and we sit next to each other at Sha Tin every Sunday in the jockeys’ room, so we have to get on even if we didn’t want to. We got along reasonably well from the start and we still get along now."

While Purton acknowledges Moreira’s initial departure was a contributory factor to his own achievements this year, he also reflects thoughtfully on driving forces which have allowed him to scale such lofty heights.

"I’m a little bit older now, a little bit wiser, a little bit more mature," he said. "I’ve been here for a long period of time. You slowly build up your connections and your support base. When Moreira decided he wanted to go to Japan at the end of last season, that obviously that left the door open for me at the start of this season.

"In the past, one of the frustrating things for me was having to get off so many light-weighted horses. A lot of the time Moreira would get on those horses and once he’s on them he stays on them and I can’t get them back, so I was losing a lot of winners in that sense.

"This season, I’ve been able to get some of those horses back, which has helped me raise the number I’ve been able to get to. Also, I just keep getting thrown the best young horses coming through all of the time, which makes my job very easy. When you’re fighting for those opportunities with two or three other jockeys, it dilutes your opportunities."

Looking ahead to next year’s campaign, Purton added: “Next season is going to be different again. We have two new jockeys and a new trainer coming in, which changes the dynamics. It will be interesting to see how that plays out, but if I had it my way I’d like this season to continue on forever!”

Although the exploits of Beauty Generation look set to spearhead Purton’s 2019-2020 season, he has also struck up a fruitful association struck up with Aethero, a stable companion of the former and one of the brightest young prospects to have emerged in recent months.

Aethero: an exciting prospectCredit: Hong Kong Jockey Club

Offered through the draft of Tyreel Stud at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale last year, Aethero – a son of late Widden Stud resident Sebring –was knocked down to George Moore for $575,000.

Having debuted in April, the imposing two-year-old is now unbeaten in three starts, the sizzling manner of his victories having caught the imagination, and while Purton is understandably excited by the colt, he remains grounded when assessing his achievements so far.

"He’s obviously a very exciting horse," Purton said. "Right from the first time I barrier trialled him I got off him and thought ‘jeez, this could be something special’. He gave me an unbelievable feel and he’s obviously backed that up on race day.

"One thing he hasn’t had to deal with yet is any pressure – he’s been able to jump and travel and have it all his own way. He’s looked very good doing it, but once a horse gets put under pressure in a race, that’s when you find out what you’ve got.

"He’s only a two-year-old, but he’s very big – he weighs around 1200lb – and he feels like he’s going to develop and fill out into his frame. If he does that, he could very well continue to go through the grades and be the horse we all hope he is going to be.

"I would prefer to let him show us he can do it and to take the necessary steps along the way before I start getting too carried away.”

Regardless of how his record-breaking bid culminates, Purton will begin next season from his usual pragmatic base, and while he did not rule out a potential return to Australia further down the line, he suggested that was highly unlikely in the foreseeable future.

"One hundred winners is always the goal at the start of the season," Purton said. "If you ride 100 winners here, you’ve had a very successful season. Anything from that mark and above is a pass mark to me.

Zac Purton and Time Warp return victorious after winning the 2017 Hong Kong CupCredit: Vince Caligiuri

Regarding a move back to Australia, he added: "Never say never. I think it’s silly to put concrete plans in place because things can change at any time, but I do enjoy living in Hong Kong – I enjoy the culture and the racing and everything it has to offer.

"There might come a time and a place where my family decide they want to go home, or I just decide I’ve had enough of Hong Kong and I want to go home, or I might get a good enough offer at the right time and decide it’s the time to take it.

"But in the short-term, obviously I’m contracted to stay in Hong Kong for the next year. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens, but I can’t see myself leaving Hong Kong. I see myself here for a few more years yet."

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