Hong Kong racing is renowned for its intense competition. It is a stage on which the world’s leading jockeys pursue glory, but also a place where anyone who loses momentum can quickly be left behind. It was in this unforgiving environment that Zac Purton rose from a young newcomer to one of the most successful riders in Hong Kong racing history.
Purton was already Brisbane’s champion jockey in 2003 while still an apprentice. He later moved to Sydney, where he twice finished runner-up in the jockeys’ premiership, before relocating to Hong Kong in September 2007 at the age of 24. His breakthrough came in the 2013/14 season, when 112 wins earned him his first Hong Kong Champion Jockey title. After Joao Moreira claimed the championship for three consecutive seasons, Purton regained the crown in 2017/18 and gradually established an era of his own.
His achievements extend well beyond Hong Kong. In 2012, Purton partnered LITTLE BRIDGE to victory in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and later that year won Japan’s World Super Jockeys Series. He also captured the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship in 2017, 2020 and 2021. During the 2022/23 Hong Kong season, Purton set new local single-season records with 179 wins and more than HK$277 million in prize money. In 2025, he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Purton added another chapter to his remarkable career in the 2025/26 season, riding 143 winners to secure his ninth Hong Kong Champion Jockey title. He also became the first jockey in Hong Kong racing history to reach 2,000 career wins in the city.
Yet in recent years, the horse most closely associated with Purton has undoubtedly been KA YING RISING. Together, the pair have repeatedly produced outstanding performances at Sha Tin and helped rewrite the record books, with KA YING RISING building a remarkable 20-race winning streak. The sprinter ended last season as the world’s highest-rated sprinter and was jointly crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year alongside ROMANTIC WARRIOR.
Whether racing fans admire Purton or love to oppose him, there can be little doubt about his place in the sport. The story written by Zac Purton and KA YING RISING has already become an inseparable part of Hong Kong racing history.
