BRITISH TITLES TIGHT AT HALFWAY

The 2023 racing season in Britain is nearing the half-way mark with the jockey and trainer titles very much up for grabs.

The Flat Jockeys Championship is decided on winners of both Flat and All-Weather races taking place from the Guineas Festival on 6th May to British Champions Day at Ascot on 21st October.

William Buick, the defending champion, has been churning out the winners over the past fortnight. His hot streak totals 16 wins from his last 55 rides and he is now in pole position to lift his second jockey’s title.

Two weeks ago, after a quiet Royal Ascot for Buick, veteran Joe Fanning was the unlikely leader in the jockeys’ title race, with Oisin Murphy second after a strong start to the season in his quest to regain his crown he lost while serving his lengthy 14-month suspension.

However, Buick has hit back in great style with wins for nine different trainers in the last fortnight, the majority for Appleby despite the season’s major prizes so far eluding the Godolphin powerhouse.

Buick now holds the advantage from Murphy although it seems certain to swing back and forth over the next few months.

We could be in for a repeat of the 2021 battle between the pair, when the title went to the wire, and they could both continue to dominate for some time to come.

Officially, after Monday’s racing William Buick leads Oisin Murphy 47 to 42 with Joe Fanning now dropping into joint-third on 38 victories with Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand.

The Trainers Championship in Britain is judged on total prize money won from New Year’s Day to 31 December.

Reigning champion Charlie Appleby has had a poor start to the season by his lofty standards and is currently in sixth position, just over £2 million behind father and son combination of John and Thady Gosden who lead with £3,484,242 courtesy of 64 wins and 136 placings.

Irish champion trainer Aidan O’Brien trails by £312,000, an incredible stat considering his stakes have been achieved from only 55 runners. Successful raids to marquee events at the top British tracks have yielded 12 victories and 26 placings including star three-year-old Paddington following up on his victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes at the royal meeting with success in the Coral Eclipse at Sandown over the weekend.

Aidan O’Brien is £900,000 clear of third placed Andrew Balding who has had 76 wins from 433 runners. Newmarket conditioners Roger Varian and William Haggas complete the top five.

Zac Purton will continue his pursuit of Douglas Whyte’s towering Hong Kong career record for the most wins by a jockey after surpassing Joao Moreira’s mark for the most victories in a single season at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Further cementing his status among Hong Kong horseracing’s galaxy of stars, Purton eclipsed Moreira’s 2016/17 record of 170 wins from 710 rides with a quartet.

Purton drew level on 170 with his 689th ride with success on David Hall-trained Ka Ying Victory and then secured the outright record with his 171st win at his 693rd ride with Manfred Man-trained Magic Supreme’s victory in the Class 4 Arculli Trophy Handicap.

Purton crowned a landmark meeting in style by adding two more wins, striking with Hall’s Flying Mojito in the Class 4 Chow Silver Plate Handicap (1600m) and John Size’s Helios Express in the Class 3 Philip Chen Trophy Handicap (1200m) to boost his tally to 173.

Revealing he had ignored advice from a doctor regarding a foot issue at the start of the season, Purton finished the meeting with a total of 1 604 wins – a tally bettered only by 13-time champion jockey Whyte’s 1 813.

At 40, Purton plans to continue his Hong Kong career indefinitely, fitness permitting.

“My body will tell me how far I can go. Obviously, I will come back next season and strive to ride as many winners as I can and as long as I continue to get the support, then obviously my position will remain here for as long as that takes,” he said.

“If we have another good season next season, I won’t be too far off that (Whyte mark.) It’s a little bit realistic (to break Whyte’s record) but at the end of the day, I’m getting a little bit older. It’s not as easy to get out of bed every day and I have listen to what my body tells me.”

Paying tribute to the owners, trainers and stable staff, Purton said: “It feels very satisfying. It’s been a long season. At the start of the season, I got told by a specialist I needed to put my foot in a moon boot for three months and I wasn’t allowed to put any weight on it – here I am, I didn’t follow that advice, obviously.

“I’ve worked hard and it hasn’t been smooth sailing all of the way. I sort of lost my focus through the mid-stage of the season with plenty of things that were going on. Once I cleared the fog and got my mind back onto the job, I was behind in the run chase there, I needed something to happen and fortunately for me, the ball started bouncing my way and it’s just continued to roll since.

“I appreciate all the support I get. The Club giving me the opportunity to come here, the owners and trainers who support me and also the people behind the scene – the mafoos, the track riders who prepare the horses and the people who give me the chance.

“It’s a team effort from everyone. I can stand up here and collect the accolades but I can’t do it without everyone else who plays their part… without their patience and support, I wouldn’t have been able to get to these numbers.”

In an incredible display of sustained dominance, Purton’s colossal season reached a peak with a seven-timer at Sha Tin on 9 October and has also included two quintets, eight four-timers and 18 trebles.

Hong Kong racing continues today with the final Happy Valley meeting of the season.