Zac Purton stole the limelight at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (27 September) with a four-timer, and the jockey believes that Starlight is capable of heading higher after making his first appearance in Class 3 a winning one with his Citi Sprint Challenge Cup Handicap (1200m) victory.

Dennis Yip-trained Starlight was sent out a heavily-backed 2.5 favourite for the night’s feature. After a perfect speed-tracking run in transit behind a moderate tempo, Purton pulled the Red Element gelding to the centre of the track upon straightening and he pulled clear to record a two-length success.

“The race panned out really well for me tonight,” Purton said. “He jumped well and the horses to my inside seemed to dwell a bit so it just opened up a beautiful spot for him in behind the speed on the fence. I just wanted to give him a bit of room if I could, he has been better swooping and I was able to do that with nothing on my outside.

“When he let go, with no weight on his back and the way he is going, he put them to bed pretty comfortably. There’s no reason why he can’t do it again, he’s racing in really good form.”

Starlight has now won three of his last four starts after his trophy win on Wednesday night, twice with Purton in the saddle.

It was the third leg of a four-timer for the Australian rider, who took riding honours on a night where Australian culture was celebrated as part of Happy Wednesday’s Boomerang parties.

Purton had earlier won the Class 5 Cassia Handicap (1200m) on Richard Gibson’s Kwaichung Brothers and the Class 4 Dianthus Handicap (1650m) aboard Little Island for Manfred Man, while he completed his quartet of winners with Caspar Fownes’ Best Step in the concluding Class 3 Wistaria Handicap (1200m).

“It was obviously a good night, I’ve had a lot of horses running well this season but I’ve had a lot of horses finishing second instead of winning and I’ve had a lot of horses look home and they’ve been run down,” he said. “So it was only a matter of time before things clicked and tonight was that night.”

Fownes believes that Best Step could become a Hong Kong Airlines Million Challenge contender after the four-year-old returned a winner and scored his first points in the annual series.

“He was first-up so I think he’ll come on for that,” Fownes said after the Cecconi gelding made all to hold Charity Glory by a neck. “He’s a dude of a horse, he’s such a gentleman. I think he’s an ideal Valley horse, in my mind I had the Million Challenge as a prospect for him but he’s going to have to step it up a notch after that. Hopefully he can do that.”

Racing returns to Sha Tin on Sunday (1 October), where the first stakes races of the season – the G3 National Day Cup (1000m) and G3 Celebration Cup (1400m) – headline the 10-event card. The first race is scheduled for 12.45pm.