Zac Purton

"He got the job done." Hardly a ringing post-race endorsement from jockey Zac Purton after champion Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse {Aus}) snapped a baby two-race skid in Sunday's G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint at Sha Tin. But a win is a win is a win, as he became the first horse since Gold-Fun (Ire) (Le Vie dei Colori {GB}) in 2015 to take the race under the five-pound penalty assigned to Group 1 winners. He'll next look to win his first G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint after finishing...

While two-time Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) and Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) are not taking part in Sunday's Jockey Club races, the majority of the jurisdiction's remaining top gallopers will line up to take their chances in the trio of local lead-ups to the Longines Hong Kong International Races in three weeks' time. One horse not missing in action this weekend is champion sprinter Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse {Aus}), who is somewhat remarkably in search of a first victory in his third start of his...

Hong Kong-based jockey Zac Purton will ride Willie Mullins trainee Absurde (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the G1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington in November. "The Melbourne Cup is the race that Zac wants the most," Purton's manager Paul 'Popup' Webster told Racenet. "Earlier this year we discussed targeting Willie Mullins. "Whatever he brings over, lets do everything we can to get on it and it's come to fruition. We've picked up the ride on Absurde." A winner of the Ebor H. in August, Absurde and his Mullins stablemate Vauban (Fr)...

During a season that saw him become the richest-ever horse and most prolific winner of Group 1 races in Hong Kong history, Stanley Chan Ka Leung's Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) was named Horse of the Year in the jurisdiction for an unprecedented third straight season during a black-tie affair held Friday evening at the Grand Ballroom of the Rosewood Hotel. The son of Gaudeamus (Distorted Humor) won four of his five trips to the post during a well-managed 7-year-old campaign, his only loss coming at the hooves of the...

Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has been campaigned ambitiously this season, with stops in Doha and Dubai, but the 6-year-old saved his best for last, running down heavily favoured Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) to successfully defend his title in Sunday's G1 Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup, the last of 12 Group 1 events on the annual Hong Kong racing calendar. Longshot Five G Patch (Ire) (Camelot {GB})--a two-time winner from two runs for Joseph O'Brien when racing as Collins Street (Ire)--went a massive race to be third in...

Coming into Sunday's FWD Champions Day meeting--the spring Hong Kong International Races, if you will--two-time Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), reigning champion middle-distance horse Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) and emerging sprinter Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse {Aus}) had absorbed a gut punch or two over the course of the season. But each put pay to any lingering disappointment from those efforts with eye-catching, skinny-odds victories at before a crowd of nearly 50,000 at Sha Tin Racecourse. If you had a punt, one of two things happened--you...

An all-the-way winner of January's Hong Kong Classic Mile under a perfectly rationed ride from the visiting Jamie Kah, Voyage Bubble (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}) capitulated without much of a fight after leading through the opening mile of the Hong Kong Classic Cup, fading into sixth behind Super Sunny Sing (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}). When connections landed gate 14 at Thursday's barrier draw, the already difficult task at hand seemed that much more daunting, as valuable energy would need to be burned to get across to lead, assuming--of course--that was the...

Hong Kong's 4-year-old Classic series concludes with the running of the HK$24-million BMW Hong Kong Derby Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse, and while no one will confuse any of the 14 runners signed on for Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), who became the second to sweep the series in 2020, or last year's winner Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), who has gone on to multiple Group 1 victories in unrestricted company, it is a race that--in theory--is wide open. Voyage Bubble (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}) was...

Group 1 winner Artorius (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) will likely return to Royal Ascot this year seeking to better his third-place finish behind Naval Crown (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. in 2022, co-owner Henry Field of Newgate Farm told TDN Aus/NZ. "As long as he's going well and he's healthy, that's definitely the plan," Field said. "He was unluckily beaten last year in the Platinum Jubilee when he was held up at a vital stage, and I think he can go back there. There's no question...

Top Hong Kong-based jockey Zac Purton will return to ride in his native Australia for the first time since the 2018 G1 Melbourne Cup, Australia's News Corp. reported. The 40-year-old reinsman will pilot Group 1 winner Artorius (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) in the G1 Canterbury S., the 2-year-old King's Gambit (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) in the G2 Todman S. and possibly Communist (Aus) (Russian Revolution {Aus}) in the G1 Randwick Guineas, all at Royal Randwick on Mar. 4. "I am coming back to ride Artorius in the Canterbury Stakes...

Having endured a luckless run when sixth to Wellington (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}) as the odds-on favourite in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint in early December, Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse {Aus}) was given a positive ride from Zac Purton and proved easily best in Sunday's G1 Centenary Sprint Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse. Drawn widest in a field of eight, the 4-year-old was under a hustling ride from the bell, but was ultimately happy to allow Hong Kong Sprint runner-up Sight Success (Aus) (Magnus {Aus}) to dictate the...

It was billed as a clash of the titans, with Hong Kong's three highest-rated gallopers squaring off for the first time in the G1 Stewards' Cup Sunday at Sha Tin. It certainly did not disappoint. Those who may have thought Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro)'s defeat at the hooves of California Spangle (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in last month's G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile signaled the beginning of the end or a changing of the guard were reminded in no uncertain terms that the 7-year-old retains all of his zest for...