In what has been a month of milestones for jockey Zac Purton, the rider reached a new level after scoring a five-timer at Happy Valley tonight (Wednesday, 25 April).

His quintet of winners – aboard Super Chic, Merrygowin, Fortune Bo Bo, The Judge and Cheerfuljet – took him to 809 wins and saw him move to third in the all-time list of most successful riders in Hong Kong, surpassing compatriot Brett Prebble (804) for the first time. Only Douglas Whyte (1780) and Tony Cruz (946) have ridden more winners in the jurisdiction.

Coincidentally, it was for the last-named that Purton brought up his first win, with Cruz confident he may finally have figured out the key to Super Chic after the 2016 Italian Derby winner broke through for his first Hong Kong win in the Class 3 Busan Handicap (2200m).

Originally bought as a candidate for the 2017 BMW Hong Kong Derby, Super Chic – who won the G2 Derby Italiano (2200m) at Capannelle – ran in the first two legs of that year’s Four-Year-Old Classic Series but finished 13th in both the Hong Kong Classic Mile and Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) won by Rapper Dragon.

It took until Super Chic dropped to a mark of 71 – from an arrival rating of 89 – to be able to break through, relishing his second test at Happy Valley’s longest distance.

“The Italian form doesn’t always hold up and it hasn’t really with Super Chic,” Cruz admitted. “He’s got talent but he’s not the most straightforward horse. Now, I don’t really want to head back to Sha Tin – we’ve tried him plenty and he’s just not the same horse.

“He needs 2200m at Happy Valley with a good, solid speed. They don’t come around that often but there’s one in June so we will hopefully head there. His best run had been at this course and distance in December, but he was on the speed that night and tonight we just took him back and hoped he could finish off.”

Super Chic (126lb) sprinted through along the rail to grab the slightly unlucky Giant Turtle (130lb) at the 100m, holding a margin of a length and a quarter at the line. Cruz praised the “daring” effort of Purton to dash back to the far side upon straightening.

“It was a perfect ride from Zac,” he said. “He took those inside gaps at every chance and look at the way the horse sprinted. That was all Zac.”

A race later, Purton used the fence as a guide again, sending the Paul O’Sullivan-trained Merrygowin through to take the second section of the Class 4 Daegu Handicap (1650m) in a three-way photo.

“It’s very difficult to be critical of that ride, isn’t it?” O’Sullivan mused. “He’s a good, honest horse. He’s your typical handicapper here. I think that he’ll be fine back in Class 3, but Class 4 is where he is happiest.

“We went forward to make use of the inside gate, and Zac thinks that might have taken the sting out of his finish – he just pulled up when he got to the front, but he still managed to get the win.”

The night’s feature, the Class 3 Korea Racing Authority Trophy Handicap (1000m), went to Purton as well, scoring aboard the Benno Yung-trained Fortune Bo Bo.

“He is a horse that struggles off a rating of 80 because he has to carry a lot of weight,” Yung said. “Tonight’s extended rating race helped, because he had less weight. He jumped well and Zac had him in a good spot. He’s very honest, this horse.”

Purton completed his five wins with a double for Caspar Fownes. The Australian rider produced a well-timed effort on The Judge in the night’s penultimate race, sending the former New Zealand galloper on a sustained run around the field to take the money in the first section of the Class 4 Daegu Handicap (1650m), while he led all the way on Cheerfuljet in the closer, the Class 3 Seoul Handicap (1200m).

“Zac is on fire; he’s riding so well, isn’t he?” Fownes said. “With The Judge, to be honest, the horse has disappointed me a little bit. This is long overdue. I really believe he’s got good Class 3 potential, so hopefully he takes a lot from this win. And Cheerfuljet will be better ridden behind in time, I think, but he still does a couple of things wrong and still needs the rail to guide him around.

“The story here though is Zac. He’s certainly going to make the championship interesting now. There’s more than enough time for him to get it done, so now it’s going to come down to who picks the right horses to ride. They are both in a position to pick the right rides – Joao (Moreira) is in a better position simply due to his weight, but it’s going to be exciting. I don’t think there’s going to be much between them and I think it’s going to go down to the wire.”

Purton moved to within seven wins of Moreira in the jockeys’ championship race, with the title leader taking his seasonal haul to 97 with victory in the first section of the Class 4 Incheon Handicap (1200m) aboard game front-runner Eighty Eighty. The rider is now eyeing off a second premiership, having bested Moreira to win the prize in 2013/14.

“Every little bit helps and it is at a crucial time in the season,” Purton said. “Hopefully, I can keep the ball rolling and have another meeting like this soon, that will make it interesting. It’s good for racing in Hong Kong, it creates interest.

“It all comes down to opportunities. If you are on the right horses, it’s the biggest and most important thing. At the moment, I’ve got a nice bit of support from a number of stables; if I could just pick up a little more, I think I’d be in with a real chance. When you are on horses that are in form and running nice races and you are always competitive, it gives you that hunger and that drive to really have that crack.”

Hong Kong racing heads to Sha Tin on Sunday (29 April) for Champions Day, featuring the G1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m), the G1 Champions Mile (1600m) and the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).