Zac Purton will seek his second Group One in Queensland aboard Grafterburners on Saturday before taking the reins on Romantic Thor in the Group One Champions and Chater Cup (2,400m) on May 24.
Hong Kong’s most decorated jockey returns to Queensland on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Group One Doomben 10,000 (1,200m) – the same place where he honed his craft, winning the 2003 Brisbane jockeys’ premiership as an apprentice.
The Australian Hall of Fame jockey heads to Doomben with a full book of nine rides as he eyes his second Group One in Queensland since his win on Sacred Elixir in the JJ Atkins (1,600m) a decade ago.
“Queensland Racing approached the Hong Kong Jockey Club at the Asian Racing Conference to ask if I’d be able to go back for the meeting, so that’s how it came about. They agreed, being a World Pool meeting. Obviously I had to find a ride and Grafterburners was it,” Purton said.
The locally trained Kelly Schweida galloper is a promising type, having won six from 13 starts including over the track and trip, and currently sits third in the market.
“He’s a lightly raced horse with a good record. He’s only three-years-old, you’d like to think everything’s ahead of him, but this is a big step up in grade from what he’s been racing against,” Purton said.
“It’s a good test for him – who knows how good he’s going to be at the moment because he’s still a young horse, so we’ll give him his chance and see what he’s got.”
Purton will be on board Romantic Thor for the first time in the Champions and Chater following the five-year-old’s victory under Matthew Poon Ming-fai in the Group Three Queen Mother Memorial Cup (2,400m).
The eight-time Hong Kong champion jockey will seek his third win in the feature after back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2020 with Exultant.
The Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained son of Justify is guaranteed to perform over the distance after a front-running performance that saw him secure his breakthrough Hong Kong triumph after winning the Listed Dee Stakes (2,064m) at Chester for Aidan O’Brien pre-import.
“That’s one of the reasons that I took the ride. He’s shown he can run the distance, albeit with no weight on his back in that handicap,” Purton said,
“It’s going to be a lot tougher here at set weights against stronger opposition, but being able to run the distance helps to some extent, so we’ll see what he can do.”
Romantic Thor will line up against stablemate and 14-time Group One winner Romantic Warrior, with Hong Kong’s hero taking on 2,400m for just the second time – the first of which resulted in a neck second to Russian Emperor with Purton aboard in the 2023 Champions and Chater.
“He’s a much different horse and a much better horse now than what he was back then,” Purton said. “He would have run the 2,400m that day if he didn’t get trapped in on 1,000m from home and burnt and run into the ground – and he still nearly did when he only got beaten in the last bound.
“So in any other normally run race, he would have won that and then people wouldn’t be saying that 2400m is a query, they’d be saying he’s one start for one win over it.”
Between the two Group One assignments, Purton has a book of six rides at Sha Tin on Sunday, including Aerovolanic in the Class Three Siu Ma Shan Handicap (1,400m) for Pierre Ng Pang-chi.
The Frosted galloper recorded impressive back-to-back wins by two lengths each at the track and trip, before a lacklustre performance last start that saw him run sixth. Sunday will see him jump from an outside barrier of 14 carrying 133lb.
“Aerovolanic was a bit disappointing last time. But he was in really good form before that and tends to race better when he’s got a bit of room and he can roll. So hopefully he can bounce back. He also likes to race on pace, so he was just beaten for speed last time and it didn’t suit him.” Purton said.
The four-year-old underwent a stalls test six days out from the upcoming race, with no issues at all according to Purton.
“He was fine, he worked well. He jumped out well and cruised down the back straight, no problems,” Purton said.
The Frankie Lor Fu-chuen-trained Absolute Honour looks for back-to-back wins under Purton in the Class Four Port Shelter Handicap (1,800m). The four-year-old broke through at start 18 for his first Hong Kong win when beating Mega Mastermind by three quarters of a length.
“He had the right gate, the right run, the tempo was there to suit him and he delivered,” Purton said.
“Hopefully he’s taken a little bit of confidence out of that. Obviously, he goes up to the 1,800m, which I don’t see a problem for him. He just needs to get into that nice rhythm again and hopefully he’s turned the corner.”
The promising Superb Spirit ran fourth on debut by two lengths, but should take plenty of benefit from that run when he contests the Class Four Luk Wu Handicap (1,200m) from a more favourable barrier of four.
“He’s a really big horse that might have needed the run, and the track bias on the day was against him. It was favouring horses on speed inside and he settled back and wide and just couldn’t get into the race. So hopefully he can improve from that run fitness-wise and with the extra bit of experience,” Purton said.
“He’s had two nice trials on the dirt where he’s jumped out and led and trialled well. So the dirt might suit him at some stage. He feels like he might be better suited at 1400m to a mile when he’s ready.”
Savvy Brilliant showed plenty of promise for Lor when securing back-to-back wins after his first start, and will look to return to the winners’ circle in the Class Three Hong Kong Lions Cup (1,200m).
“He did a really good job when he arrived, but he reached a mark that was the ceiling for him and it’s taken him a little bit of time to adjust, Purton said.
“He’s dropped in the ratings a little bit, but the last run showed that he’s starting to find himself again. He’s a bit tricky – he can over-race, he can miss the start, and he can hang, so he needs a smooth run”
Purton’s book of rides is rounded out by Lahore in the Class Four Cheung Shan Handicap (1,000m) and All Are Mine in the Class Five Buffalo Hill Handicap (1,800m).
