Eager to build momentum after missing two meetings recently, Zac Purton reasserted his dominance over the Hong Kong jockey ranks ahead of the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (7 December) with a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday (4 December).<\/p>
Purton will chase a fourth LONGINES IJC crown next week against a cluster of elite jockeys, including Ryan Moore, Hollie Doyle, Jamie Kah, James McDonald, Yuga Kawada, Tom Marquand, Matthew Chadwick, Mickael Barzalona, Vincent Ho, Silvestre de Sousa and Hugh Bowman.<\/p>
Boosting his seasonal tally to 54 and extending his margin in the Hong Kong jockeys\u2019 championship to 32 over nearest pursuer Ho (22), Purton searched for rhythm and winners at Sha Tin \u2013 and found both \u2013 after missing two meetings recently because of COVID-19.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s just good to be back. I want to get some rhythm and consistency back. I had to miss a couple of meetings and was just out of my physical routine \u2013 going to the physio, doing the things I normally do, and I wanted to get some normality back into my programme to just get rolling again.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019ve got to turn it up again, if I can.\u201d<\/p>
Slotting a treble in successive races on Benno Yung-trained Handsome Twelve, Pierre Ng\u2019s Marado and Peter Ho\u2019s Amazing Victory, Purton will bid to add another LONGINES IJC trophy to those he secured in 2017, 2020 and 2021.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33366″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Benno Yung confirmed his standing as the current king of Sha Tin\u2019s dirt course with a treble through Run Des Run under Jerry Chau in the Class 5 Cameron Handicap (1650m, dirt), Ice Legend\u2019s triumph for Derek Leung in the Class 4 Hankow Handicap (1200m, dirt) and Purton\u2019s cool ride on Handsome Twelve in the Class 3 Humphreys Handicap (1650m, dirt).<\/p>
Downplaying his skills, Yung said: \u201cI’m not going out of my way to target winners on the dirt. Each horse is an individual but it just happens that quite a few of them can perform on the dirt,\u201d Yung said.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s nothing special. The horses just like this surface and they ran well today. Ice Legend is a versatile horse, he can run at Happy Valley on the turf, Sha Tin on the turf and also the dirt at Sha Tin.<\/p>
\u201cRun Des Run maybe is better suited to the dirt and Jerry gave him a great ride. Handsome Twelve, I was confident he would win because the track seems quite biased out in the middle of the track and for those coming from behind.\u201d<\/p>
Nine of Yung\u2019s winners this campaign have come on the dirt \u2013 six more than nearest rival and reigning champion trainer \u2013 Frankie Lor.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33365″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Pierre Ng extended an excellent start to the season with a brace. The tyro trainer first struck courtesy of a perfectly-timed Angus Chung ride in the Class 4 Carnarvon Handicap (1200m) before championship-leading rider Purton posted a double of his own aboard Marado in the Class 4 Mody Handicap (1400m).<\/p>
David Hall\u2019s decision to apply blinkers to veteran Quadruple Double delivered victory in the Class 3 Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup Handicap (1000m) under Alfred Chan.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019d never had blinkers on before and it was a class of him performing at Class 3 or dropping back to Class 4,\u201d Hall said. \u201cI\u2019d never used blinkers on him before because he\u2019s a free-going type of horse.\u201d<\/p>
Improved barrier manners paved the way for The Multiplier\u2019s first win in Hong Kong after the grey snared the Class 5 Ashley Handicap (1200m, dirt) for David Hayes and Lyle Hewitson.<\/p>
\u201cHe was unlucky last start at Happy Valley when he missed the start. He jumped better today and he won well,\u201d Hayes said before Michael Chang\u2019s Righteous Doctrine surged late to claim Skyey Supreme under Silvestre de Sousa to land the Class 4 Middle Handicap (1800, dirt).<\/p>
A perfectly-timed Angus Chung ride allowed Pierre Ng\u2019s United We Stand to prevail in the Class 4 Carnarvon Handicap (1200m) before a blistering display by Super Win Dragon under Matthew Chadwick in the Class 2 Salisbury Handicap (1200m, dirt).<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues this Wednesday (7 December) with the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship at Happy Valley.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33364″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Eager to build momentum after missing two meetings recently, Zac Purton reasserted his dominance over the Hong Kong jockey ranks ahead of the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (7 December) with a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday (4 December).Purton will chase a fourth LONGINES… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":33368,"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":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33334"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33334"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33832,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33334\/revisions\/33832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}