There is no stopping the Zac Purton juggernaut. The champion jockey continued his domination with a four-timer at Happy Valley tonight (Wednesday, 5 June), moving to within one of becoming only the second rider in history to accrue 1000 wins in Hong Kong.
The Australian ace advanced to the 999 mark in race seven but it took all of his strength and persuasion to convince Golden Dash to knuckle down and take the Class 3 Violet Hill Handicap (1200m).
“He didn’t really want to go through with it, he was doing his best to try and pull up,” Purton said after the Danny Shum-trained galloper had got the better of a stretch duel with the Umberto Rispoli-ridden Jumbo Prize.
“The inside horse actually came back on me, but once he saw it, through the blinker, he actually gave me a little bit more and that was the difference.”
Green Luck was unable to round off Purton’s evening with a champagne victory, running home second behind Doctor Geoff in the concluding Class 2 Wong Nai Chung Gap Handicap (1800m).
Aldo Domeyer’s mount survived an inquiry after lugging into Green Luck and bumping his rival a couple of times in the final strides.