Zac Purton celebrated a century of wins for the 10th consecutive Hong Kong season when Gold Patch dug deep to win the Class Three Enabling Professionals To Flourish For Their Charge Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The eight-time Hong Kong champion jockey and Australian Racing Hall of Famer secured the milestone for the 11th time courtesy of a double after also winning on Absolute Honour.

Purton currently sits on 1,978 Hong Kong wins after breaking Douglas Whyte’s all-time record of 1,813 victories last season.

“It sounds good, doesn’t it? It’s got a nice ring to it and an even number, which is good,” Purton said of reaching 100 wins this term.

The Francis Lui Kin-wai-trained Gold Patch showed blistering gate speed and a fighting quality in the finish to score by one and a quarter lengths from Thousand Spirit, improving his record to three wins from four starts.

“He’s a nice, young, improving horse – he still doesn’t know what he’s doing. He overcame a bit of adversity again in the mid-stages and he’s shown a nice ability to quicken. He did a really good job,” Purton said.

Bursting from a far more favourable draw than previous assignments, Gold Patch was joined early in the race by Super Express with the pair setting up a strong tempo. After being headed at the top of the straight he lifted strongly and found plenty to win by a comfortable margin, half a second inside standard time.

“He’s an honest horse; if you look at this race, he seems to improve,” Lui said.

“You can see, Zac put him in front and then [Super Express] tried to come across but Zac didn’t let him. After that, my horse passed inside and he’s clearly improved.

“Some other horses would have shied away from it, but he’s got more experience and challenged the other horse. I’m really happy to have seen him run like that.”

A tilt at next season’s four-year-old series could be on the cards for the son of Ardrossan following an encouraging start to his career.

“The owner has high hopes for next season and the four-year-old races. He can step up in trip no problem and honestly, I hope next season he will improve and get even stronger. It’s hard to say, as he’s only three years old and the horse is still growing, but hopefully after the season he will grow even more,” Lui said.

Absolute Honour did the punters justice in the Class Four Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy (1,600m), living up to his $2.3 quote to score by three-quarters of a length over Mega Mastermind.

Purton used barrier one to perfection, breaking best and handing the lead up to Mega Mastermind who set an extremely slow tempo. The Frankie Lor Fu-chuen-trained gelding ranged up to the leader to take over before the 200m mark and record a breakthrough victory in Hong Kong.

The Saxon Warrior galloper was a recent stable transfer to Lor, and broke his local maiden at just his second start for the trainer thanks to some sage advice from Purton.

“On his first start for me, he ran well, and for his second start Zac told me to think about 1,600m, as he was a bit one-paced,” Lor said.

“He had a good draw today and that made it easier for him. I need to see how he improves, but if he gets another good draw, I think he could do that again.”

It was perfect timing for both Lor and Purton to combine with Absolute Honour.

“Everyone wants Zac to ride their horses, but he’s always busy. It’s good for me – when I asked Zac to ride him the first time he said ‘I don’t have a ride, so I can ride for you’ and after he finished fourth last time, he said ‘I’ll ride again, but over 1,600m’,” Lor said.

“Sometimes, when a horse gets a bit of confidence here, they can keep going and I hope that’s the case.”

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