Wednesday night sees the International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley kick off a huge week of racing in Hong Kong ahead of four Group 1 events at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The nine-race card features a four-leg jockeys' challenge which boasts a neat HK$500,000 to the winner, with races 4,5,7 and 8 where the riders will represent their countries.
Australian jockey Zac Purton (representing Hong Kong) is searching for a hat-trick of victories in the rich event, winning the latest edition without registering a victory through the four legs. It's expected to be a much different story this time around, with Hong Kong's five-time Champion Jockey boasting a strong book of rides not only throughout the Championship, but also on the undercard.
Purton kicks off the contest with the Danny Shum-trained Supreme Lucky who looks a winning hope dropping back to 1000m with the blinkers on first time. The 38-time Group 1 winner then rides Copartner Era (Chris So), Packing Famous (Danny Shum) and Xponential (Douglas Whyte), all of which I have on top in their respective events.
It's a common debate just how good Zac Purton is, and with the current pool of jockeys in Hong Kong maybe not as strong as it once was, he's obviously got a stranglehold on the jurisdiction.
But maybe he's just as good as everyone thinks he is…
Since October 1st this year, Purton is sitting second WORLDWIDE for impact value, only behind Minoru Miyagawa of Japan.
The Australian has won 1.28 times more than the market has expected him to, striking at a solid 30%. This meams that not only is Purton winning races and beating the market, he is also improving horses when he hops aboard.
Compare this to Vincent Ho who currently sits second in the Jockey's Championship with 22 winners, who has ridden 13 winners since October 1st while the market expected 17 with an impact value of just 1.05.
The only other jockeys in Hong Kong with more wins than the market expected are Silvestre De Sousa, Jerry Chau and Hugh Bowman.
It's easy to say that horses Purton rides start shorter in the market than they would if any other jockey were aboard, making it even more impressive that he continues to beat the market.
This year's Jockeys' Championship has set up brilliantly for the local hero to come out on top once again, bringing up a hat-trick of victories and making history in the process.
Of the other jockey's participating, my selections have fellow Australian Hugh Bowman finishing in second position with a win and a second, with Mickael Barzalona and Hollie Doyle tying for third.
Of course, this is racing though and anything could happen!
As for betting propositions on Wednesday evening, I think there's a few good chances to take us into Sunday's big Group 1 meeting with full pockets.
Race 3 Number 4 HEARTY WISH – Has been forced to work extra hard in the early stages of his races so far this season, drawing barriers 10, 11 and 9 respectively in his three outings. He now moves into an inside barrier (3) and Jamie Kah takes the ride. He looks a genuine winning hope.
Race 8 Number 7 XPONENTIAL – I was with this gelding last time out at double figure odds and I'm happy to back to the well again. Man of the article Zac Purton hops aboard from a much better draw. There's been solid form out of that latest effort, and he'd just have to run up to his latest figures to be scoring.
Race 9 Number 7 SAVAQUIN – I'm tipping Purton to have a massive night at the office, and if he rides half as many winners as I think he can, we'll both come out with fat pockets. A lot of the form in this race ties together, with many of these horses facing one-another on numerous occasions already this season. Purton rode this guy first-up and now hops back aboard, with the gun hoop never missing the placings while riding. He hit the line strongly to finish 0.5L away last time out but is drawn to sit much closer today. 1800m is no issue and he can see us out with a big win.