How do you separate the hawks from the pigeons in assessing the world’s best jockeys?

LONGINES rankings based on leading global G1 contests favour James McDonald over Ryan Moore this year; advanced statistical methods used by TRC Global Rankings also give J-Mac the edge; raw numbers point to Irad Ortiz Jr for breaking the 300-winner barrier in the USA; and ageless globetrotter Frankie Dettori still outscores most on the celebrity scale.

An accurate gauge is clearly hard to devise when stars are spread far and wide but, as some of the world’s elite jet into Hong Kong for the last major racing festival of the year, their most dangerous rival will be putting the kids to bed and quietly plotting in an apartment just past the winning post at Sha Tin racecourse.

Zac Purton would have to sweep all of Sha Tin’s top races and several more overseas to have any chance of topping the LONGINES rankings and Hong Kong’s twice-a-week model makes it impossible for him rack up Ortiz-style numbers in one season.

Dettori’s greatest showman role isn’t one that would ever sit comfortably with the down-to-earth Aussie but Purton’s exploits since he arrived in Hong Kong speak for themselves.  

The nervous 24-year-old who couldn’t find the right entrance to the racecourse on his first day at Sha Tin in 2007 had become a self-assured gunslinger when he finally ended Douglas Whyte’s 13-season dominance to win a first jockeys’ championship in 2013/14.

Four more titles have followed in a series of gripping battles with a very different but equally formidable rival in Joao Moreira, while Purton’s prowess has seen him rack up 26 G1 victories, nine HKIR wins, three IJC titles, a daring hit-and-run Royal Ascot raid on top sprinter Little Bridge and an eye-watering HK$1,788,575,081 (as of 27 November, 2022) in career prize money.

And yet, for all the various awards and impressive record book entries, there is still a lot to be said for the view that ‘you know it when you see it’ where sporting excellence is concerned.

And, having spent four years watching Purton use his brains and brilliance to master every aspect of the intricate Hong Kong system at close quarters, I find it hard to believe there is a more ruthlessly efficient operator in world racing.

Seldom does a week go by without the 39-year-old Queenslander delivering a ride that makes you wonder ‘just who else would have won on that?’

Check out the way Danny Shum’s Comet Splendido was smuggled across from an outside draw and produced with a precision swoop to lead right on the line at Happy Valley last month if you require a refresher.

And, if you need further evidence, revisit the way Purton employed an iron hand in a velvet glove to float across from gate 14 and make every yard without an ounce to spare on Tony Cruz’s budding Derby candidate Beautyverse at Sha Tin recently.

But what fans observe from the grandstand or on television is only the tip of a complex iceberg which demands that aspiring Hong Kong champions need to work the contacts book every bit as skilfully as the form book.

Owners look on in thrall as the man they call ‘Pundon’ sets out his gameplan in the paddock; trainers find it hard to resist when he hops from mount to mount during trackwork pointing out that ‘top horses need top jockeys’; and his ability to manage the media narrative using a blend of mischief and spiky comment would do justice to any veteran spin doctor.

Purton has been stirring the pot again of late and, after three years of stifling pandemic restrictions with the lingering effects of a fall incident in last year’s Hong Kong Sprint in mind, hints that the end of a momentous career could be close have surfaced several times.

But Hong Kong’s champion jockey is firmly on course for a sixth title with 51 winners at a strike rate of 27.57 per cent (as of 27 November, 2022) and a HKIR hand that includes boom sprinter Lucky Sweynesse and Golden Sixty’s chief mile threat California Spangle.

Joao Moreira’s single season record of 170 is a feasible target if he steers clear of the stewards’ room and who knows what might happen if Purton’s physios continue to work their magic as his adopted home continues to move back towards normality in 2023?

Whisper it softly, but Zac Purton now has 1482 Hong Kong winners in the bag – including a record 574 at Happy Valley – and could threaten the summit of Whyte’s epic career total of 1813 if he stays healthy and motivated for two more seasons.

But talk of a possible end to the Purton era – or indeed an extension of it to chase down former nemesis Douglas one more time – is probably best left for the future.

What lies ahead for the shorter term is a feast of international racing featuring a host of world-class riders including established superstars like Moore, McDonald, Yuga Kawada and Hugh Bowman as well as young guns like Jamie Kah, Hollie Doyle and her other half Tom Marquand.

As ever, there will be no pigeons in the weighing room during LONGINES HKIR week. The global hawks are circling with menace but Purton is at the peak of his powers. And, as in the past, Hong Kong’s apex predator will be aiming to fly higher than all of them.

Elegance and Attitude – Purton’s Top Five LONGINES HKIR Rides

Ambitious Dragon (2012 Mile)

The Dragon had to pass late vet tests and played second fiddle to the Whyte-ridden Glorious Days in the market but Tony Millard’s gelding produced a relentless charge down the outside to give Purton his first HKIR winner. Zac punched the air in triumph and pointed straight across to Douglas on the runner-up – and it felt like sands were shifting.

Beauty Generation (2018 Mile)

‘This is one hundred per cent pure Group 1 power.’ It isn’t often that a race caller can deliver the killer payoff line to a major race with fully 100m left to run but Brett Davis knew that John Moore’s powerhouse front runner had destroyed a high-class field for his second consecutive Hong Kong Mile success.

Aerovelocity (2016 Sprint)

Eight-year-olds aren’t meant to turn back time in G1 races but no-one had told Paul O’Sullivan’s warrior. Already a winner of one Hong Kong Sprint in 2014 and major prizes in Japan and Singapore, Aero simply refused to lie down as he thwarted old rivals Peniaphobia and Lucky Bubbles in a memorable finish.

Time Warp (2017 Cup)

A masterclass in measured front running. You would have to look very hard to find another G1 over 2000m in which each of five sectionals was faster than the last. This was a startling exception and, hard though former Horse of the Year Werther tried, the task of trying to get past a leader who ran the last 400m in a blistering 22.08s was simply impossible.

Exultant (2018 Vase)

A classic Zac v Joao duel as hometown hero Exultant and Japanese raider Lys Gracieux delivered an thunderous stretch duel with Tony Cruz’s gelding rallying bravely once headed to score by a neck. The form looked strong at the time and even better when the runner-up bolted up in three G1s including the Cox Plate in 2019.