Zac Purton is looking to up the ante in his push for a fifth jockeys\u2019 championship tomorrow night (Wednesday, 16 February) at Happy Valley, taking yet another imposing book of rides as he hopes to build on his unmatched 35 wins at the city circuit this term.<\/p>
Sitting eight wins adrift of Joao Moreira who leads the title race 74 to 66, Purton has banged in 13 wins from the last five meetings at Happy Valley \u2013 a dazzling run of form that will prove pivotal at the pointy end of the season as Hong Kong\u2019s \u201cbig two\u201d get set to pull further clear and vie for the championship.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cHopefully, I can put myself in the position to be competitive, it\u2019ll come down to the support either of us get, the stables we ride for, how they\u2019re going and how they push us along, so we\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
Prior to his engagements tomorrow night, Purton hopped aboard the gifted California Spangle \u2013 who is preparing to contest the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) on Sunday, 27 February after stepping up from 1200m to 1600m to finish second behind Romantic Warrior in the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m).<\/p>
\u201cHe did everything right, he pulled up well and hopefully he can draw a little bit kinder this time to give himself a chance again,\u201d Purton said of the exciting talent who last-start stepped away from gate 13.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
California Spangle leads the field home.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Trained by Tony Cruz, California Spangle led from the get-go in this morning\u2019s (Tuesday, 15 February) barrier trial under Purton on his way to a time of 1m 09.96s over 1200m on the dirt at Sha Tin.<\/p>
\u201cThe distance is the same question he faced going into the Classic Mile, it was a really big effort to go straight from 1200 to 1600 metres, and to do so from the outside gate to only be run down late.<\/p>
\u201cBut the mile is once again a different beast to 1800 metres and it will be a different beast again as he gets to 2000, but step-by-step we\u2019ll see where we are at \u2013 it was a decent gap to the third horse the other day, so I feel like he\u2019s in with a chance,\u201d Purton outlined.<\/p>
A quartet of Class 3 contests headline the midweek fixture this week \u2013 the first is the Fountain Palm Handicap (2200m) where Purton hops aboard Exceptional Nice.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s a small field, he can run the distance and he\u2019s in good form, so if it\u2019s an evenly run race he\u2019ll get his chance but he\u2019s had his chance many times and he seems to keep coming up short, but sooner or later hopefully he has his day,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
Purton also hops aboard Raging Blaze, Gracylove, The Runner, Birdsville, Loyal Baby, Bulletproof, Stock Legend and Soulmate.<\/p>
Nearly Fine for Chan at the Valley<\/strong><\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6641″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Alfred Chan is expecting his five-pound claim to play a vital role in whether Nearly Fine is a factor in tomorrow night\u2019s (Wednesday, 16 February) first section of the Class 4 Spruce Handicap (1650m) at Happy Valley.<\/p> \u201cLast time he dropped back to Class 4 with Blake Shinn aboard who gave him every chance, but he carried a big weight, although he did run home very well \u2013 but hopefully my claim, five pounds off tomorrow, is a big favour,\u201d Chan said.<\/p> A steely grey son of Exosphere, Nearly Fine has hit the ground running in Hong Kong \u2013 twice narrowly missing over the course and distance \u2013 once with Chan in the plate four runs ago.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cHe was still a little bit green when I rode him under race conditions recently and also I didn\u2019t give him the best ride that day, he was beaten by a short margin because he kept shifting, but if I can do better on him then I think he will get a chance tomorrow,\u201d Chan said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Nearly Fine narrowly misses under Alfred Chan.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Chan has collected 10 wins so far this season, already bettering last term\u2019s haul as we move into the second half of the 2021\/22 campaign.<\/p> \u201cI can\u2019t ask for much more to be honest, last year, I had seven wins throughout the whole season but at the halfway mark of this season I already have 10, so it can\u2019t be better,\u201d Chan said.<\/p> Teetan teams with Gallant Crown, rides Sky Darci this weekend <\/strong><\/p> No jockey boasts more wins aboard Gallant Crown than Karis Teetan and this Wednesday (16 February) the Mauritian gets back in the plate aboard the five-year-old for the first time since October, 2021 in the Class 3 Cypress Handicap (1650m) at Happy Valley.<\/p> \u201cIt\u2019s nice to get back on him, he\u2019s been running well this whole season and he goes to the races with a nice chance,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p> The Tony Millard-trainee is a four-time winner in Hong Kong \u2013 each time over tomorrow night\u2019s course and distance.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Gallant Crown scores under Teetan.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Teetan boasts a full book of engagements at the midweek fixture, while this Sunday (20 February) he is set to partner Sky Darci in the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) \u2013 his second try at the distance after prevailing in last season\u2019s BMW Hong Kong Derby.<\/p> \u201cI trialled him last week, he trialled pretty good but he\u2019s actually a very laidback horse \u2013 he\u2019s not a horse that flies out of the gates. In the trial he just hopped out and he followed them through but I actually did like the way he responded in the straight, he\u2019s a horse that knows when it\u2019s time for business, so I was happy with his trial,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p> The 31-year-old also renews a relationship with Californiadeepshot in the G1 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) \u2013 the weekend fixture\u2019s other top-level contest.<\/p> Wednesday\u2019s (16 February) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 6.45pm with the Class 5 Walnut Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6640″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Zac Purton is looking to up the ante in his push for a fifth jockeys\u2019 championship tomorrow night (Wednesday, 16 February) at Happy Valley, taking yet another imposing book of rides as he hopes to build on his unmatched 35 wins at the city circuit this term.Sitting eight wins adrift of… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6637"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6654,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637\/revisions\/6654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}