Gearing up for a huge fortnight of Hong Kong racing, Zac Purton heads to Happy Valley this Wednesday evening (19 January) looking to maintain the momentum and ultimately to chase a fifth riding title.<\/p>
Two G1s feature this weekend \u2013 including the return of Golden Sixty \u2013 while Sunday week\u2019s (30 January) fixture sees the 2022 Four-Year-Old Classic Series commence with the traditional first leg \u2013 the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m).<\/p>
Purton, 39, takes eight rides at the city circuit \u2013 spearheaded by Beauty Joy\u2019s inclusion in a cracking edition of the HK$2.4 million Class 2 Lantau Island Handicap (1650m).<\/p>
The lightly-raced talent blitzed rivals two starts ago from the front under the Australian ace \u2013 who hops back in the plate aboard the chestnut tomorrow night for his first try at the city circuit.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a lightly-framed horse and quite often they can get around the tight track quite well, but he was quite adaptable overseas before he came here and he\u2019s been able to adapt to wherever he\u2019s gone here as well \u2013 I don\u2019t see the track being a problem for him,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
A one-time winner from four starts in Hong Kong, the Sebring gelding \u2013 formerly known as Talladega in Australia \u2013 has come to hand this term as a five-year-old after two unplaced efforts as a four-year-old last season, including in the Hong Kong Classic Mile.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Beauty Joy charges clear for Purton.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Trained by Tony Cruz \u2013 Beauty Joy (125lb) has trialled once before at Happy Valley \u2013 leading from the get-go under Purton to cross the line first over 1200m by just over a length in a time of 1m 12.06s.<\/p>
\u201cBoth of his runs this season have been good, he\u2019s been to the Valley for a trial, so he\u2019s somewhat familiar with the course and he\u2019s drawn a nice gate \u2013 hopefully he can find himself in the right spot and give us a nice run,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
A runaway winner from the jump two runs back \u2013 Purton doesn\u2019t believe the 88-rater is a one-trick pony.<\/p>
\u201cI don\u2019t think he has to (lead), I rode him in a trial and he sat behind them \u2013 so he can adapt,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
Sunny Star (127lb), C P Brave (126lb), Savaquin (126lb), Solar Wai Wai (126lb), Sunshine Warrior (120lb) and Rocket Spade (118lb) are also engaged in the feature.<\/p>
In the race to be crowned 2021\/22\u2019s champion rider in Hong Kong, Purton trails Moreira by 10 wins (62-52).<\/p>
Looking ahead to busy period of Hong Kong racing, Sunday\u2019s (23 January) fixture at Sha Tin represents a G1 double-header with the running of the Stewards\u2019 Cup (1600m) and Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m), while the following Sunday sees the Four-Year-Old Classic Series commence with the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5269″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Engaged to ride Packing Victory in the first jewel of Hong Kong\u2019s age-restricted series, Purton has been pleased with his mount\u2019s progress between runs.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cI worked him at the end of last week and he\u2019s working well, he\u2019s come through his last run really good, he\u2019s striding out well \u2013 he just continues to do what he needs to do, he\u2019s getting stronger each time and hopefully he continues to progress the right way,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
The Reliable Man gelding scored a commanding two-length win at his first try in Class 2 last start \u2013 enhancing his rating to an imposing 89.<\/p>
\u201cI think it\u2019s a strong year (for the Four-Year-Old Classic Series), I think there is a number of chances from a number of different stables \u2013 it\u2019s competitive and the melting pot is all starting to come together at the right time, so we\u2019ll know more after the Classic Mile and heading towards the Derby,\u201d Purton said.<\/p>
Entries for the Hong Kong Classic Mile were announced yesterday (Monday, 17 January) and the list includes: Blaze Warrior, California Spangle, Fa Fa, Fantastic Treasure, Ima Single Man, Lucky With You, Master Delight, Rocket Spade, Sight Spirit and Romantic Warrior.<\/p>
Purton is expected to ride Waikuku in the Stewards\u2019 Cup and Hot King Prawn in the Centenary Sprint Cup this weekend.<\/p>
Karis Teetan has snared the prized mount aboard 2021 Hong Kong International Sale graduate Romantic Warrior for the Hong Kong Classic Mile after the Acclamation gelding extended his unbeaten sequence to four on Sunday (16 January) at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5268″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cI\u2019m delighted to get the opportunity on a horse like that, he looks like he\u2019s of course improving all the time and his win last time looked good.<\/p>
\u201cListening to Joao\u2019s (Moreira) interview he said he was pretty confident, so he knew what he was sitting on top of going into the race and of course he\u2019s progressing nicely,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Joao Moreira has partnered the galloper in all of his wins but instead is committed to partner Master Delight for John Size in the Hong Kong Classic Mile.<\/p>
Projected as one of the chief protagonists for the upcoming Four-Year-Old Classic Series, Romantic Warrior has risen 33 rating points to a career-high mark of 85 \u2013 boasting two wins in Class 4 and 3 from four starts overall for trainer Danny Shum.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (19 January) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 6.45pm with the Class 5 Po Toi Handicap (1800m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5267″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Gearing up for a huge fortnight of Hong Kong racing, Zac Purton heads to Happy Valley this Wednesday evening (19 January) looking to maintain the momentum and ultimately to chase a fifth riding title.Two G1s feature this weekend \u2013 including the return of Golden Sixty \u2013 while Sunday week\u2019s (30 January)… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5270,"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-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5265"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5284,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265\/revisions\/5284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-mile\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}