Now that Zac Purton has passed Douglas Whyte for most all-time wins in Hong Kong horse racing and seems assured of his eighth jockeys' championship, what is keeping the Australian motivated and focused?
At a cold mid-season meeting at Sha Tin yesterday the answer was as simple as it was evident by the results: "winning."
Purton's four wins showed there would be no hangover from the celebrations that accompanied his record-breaking achievement four days earlier at Happy Valley.
"I just like winning," Purton said after taking his tally to 78 wins from 41 meetings. "There were 11 races there to win today and I was trying my best to execute in every one of them and that is what I will be doing for the rest of the season."
More bad news for Purton's embattled rivals was that his four-timer came on a quartet of horses that should all win again this season - Sunlight Power, Magnifique, Yuen Long Elite and Gorgeous Win. Purton extended his championship lead to 45 wins from second-placed Hugh Bowman approaching the halfway mark of the 2024/25 season and with 27 wins in the last month - he shows no signs of slowing.
Gorgeous Win's victory in the Class 2 sprint also gave Danny Shum Chap-shing 29 for the term and the outright lead in the trainers' championship from Pierre Ng Pang-chi (28).
"Danny, the Sheikh of Sha Tin," Purton joked of his long-time supporter, referring to Shum's history-making win with Romantic Warrior on Friday night in Dubai.
"The stable is going well and he has done a great job with this horse," Purton said after Gorgeous Win made up more than six lengths in the straight to nail Baby Crystal on the line. "He had a lot to do and he got the job done, that was a solid win."
Gorgeous Win's rating is approaching triple figures but Purton's other winners in the lower grades all won in a way that bodes well for the future.
None more so than David Hall's Magnifique, a three-year-old that was heavily hyped off the strength of his barrier trials and started even as a money favorite. "I know everybody was saying it would be easy but he was against some tough older horses there," Hall said.
Purton added: ""He had to absorb a bit of pressure a lesser quality, weaker horse would have folded under that pressure."
Magnifique is raced by owner Kirk Wong Kin-wai, whose father Eddie Wong Ming-chak owned Hall's star sprinter Absolute Champion.
Hall believes Magnifique could be more than just a sprinter and Purton agreed. "I think a turn will help him," the jockey said.
Trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai wasn't on track to witness Sunlight Power's impressive win as hot favorite in the day's feature race, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Hong Kong, China Team Celebration Cup.
Yiu was in New Zealand at the Karaka 2025 yearling sales and had just secured a lot by Capitalist, also the sire of Sunlight Power, for NZ$200,000 (HK$880,000). "We bought him about an hour before this race and I hope he can be as good as Sunlight Power," Yiu said.
Purton said everything had lined up for Sunlight Power - "the right gate, right run" - and despite the five-year-old having now won five from 20, "there could be some upside there with him, he just seems like he hasn't completely matured yet."
Just like the way Purton keeps pushing himself for wins with the championship seemingly secure, he kept riding Yuen Long Elite right out, through the line to score by a big margin when the result looked beyond doubt. "It felt like he was waiting for the other horses and didn't quite know what to do when he hit the front, especially with blinkers on for the first time."
Michael Cox
