Jockey Zac Purton was responsible for two announcements last night, the first that he would appeal the severity of his fine earlier in the week and the second with a winning double at Happy Valley that showed he has his eye on grabbing the third spot on the season's championship list.
On a night when squally, unpredictable weather had racing fans shying off going to the Happy Valley meeting and betting down by over $90 million, Purton scored a pair for Francis Lui Kin-wai on Tomodachi and Loads Of Joy in similar fashion, leading throughout in the boggy conditions.
During the afternoon, the jockey had indicated to club officials that he would be appealing the severity of a HK$300,000 fine imposed on him by the stewards on Tuesday over his failure to report two approaches for information in return for bets placed on his behalf by a punter who had been convicted in 2007 over a similar situation.
Then the Australian rider set about working on getting the fine money together just in case and Tomodachi, having his first run for the Lui stable, never looked like losing the third race.
The double took Purton past 50 wins for the season for the first time to 51, and he sits just two behind third-placed Darren Beadman, who will miss two of the final four meetings.
'I knew Tomodachi would handle the ground as I saw he had trialled well in New Zealand on a heavy track,' said Purton, who has been the regular rider of the horse even before his transfer to Lui.
'He's got good speed but I wasn't always able to use it before with wide gates and so on but he was always happy in front tonight from a good draw.'