Sword Point has crowned an impressive Hong Kong debut season with emphatic victory in the Class 2 Hong Kong Reunification Cup Handicap (2000m) at Sha Tin on Saturday (1 July), shunting Zac Purton closer to eclipsing Joao Moreira’s record for the most wins in a single campaign.
Contesting his 10th race this season, Frankie Lor-trained Sword Point claimed a HK$1 million PP Bonus with his second win in the jurisdiction, boosting his earnings to HK$9.45 million as Purton continued a relentless pursuit of Moreira’s seasonal record of 170 wins.
Five-time champion jockey Purton positioned Sword Point perfectly from barrier four, sitting in fourth place behind leaders Erimo and All For St Paul’s before the field compacted near the 800m mark when the field slackened.
Suddenly caught behind weakening leaders, Purton angled into the clear before driving the former two-time Australian winner away from Meaningful Star to prevail by one-and-a-quarter lengths in 2m 01.56s, with Butterfield third.
“Like a lot of the staying races in Hong Kong recently, they’re just run at such a muddling tempo it throws everyone’s plans out the window,” Purton said. “We were having a really nice run race and then they slammed on the brakes and started going slower and slower, it forces everyone to take off, the field bunches and then everyone gets in each other’s way.
“Luckily for me, I was following the right horse (Meaningful Star) and he brought me into it and I just had to wait for the run.”