Zac Purton, 32, is Hong Kong’s current champion jockey, having notched in excess of 500 wins in eight seasons. The Australian was an outstanding apprentice jockey in Brisbane where he won the jockey’s championship in 2003 while still an apprentice. He later moved to Sydney where he again had considerable success grabbing victory aboard Excites in the 2006 Group 1 Inglis Sires Produce Stakes at Randwick. The lure to Hong Kong came in 2007 and Purton has been a steady climber up the jockey ranks with two second place finishes in two seasons before clinching the title in 2013-2014 to snap Douglas Whyte’s amazing 13-year-long reign. Since his first major Hong Kong win in the 2010 HKG1 Stewards’ Cup on Fellowship, Purton has claimed many more big races, namely the 2012 Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Mile on Ambitious Dragon, the 2013 Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Vase on Dominant, the 2013 Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup on Military Attack, the 2014 Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint on Aerovelocity and 2015 HKG1 Hong Kong Derby on Luger. Purton also struck paydirt at his regular overseas raids, starting in England with the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes aboard Little Bridge in 2012, followed by the Japan’s World Super Jockeys Series later in the same year, the SIA Cup aboard Military Attack in 2013, and the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen on Aerovelocity in March 2015. He also paid successful short visits back home, including the Group 1 Epsom Handicap with Theseo in 2008, the Group 1 Doncaster Mile and George Main Stakes, both aboard Sacred Falls in 2014 and the Group 1 Caulfield Cup on Admire Rakti the same year. He is back at Kranji with his 2013 SIA Cup winner Military Attack as well as Aerovelocity in the KrisFlyer.