Saturday’s Caulfield Cup will be run thousands of kilometres away from Hong Kong, but that doesn’t mean Zac Purton’s competitive instincts have lessened.
Hong Kong’s champion rider heads a big group of jockeys from that jurisdiction in Melbourne for the $5 million event, some of whom are yet to ride at Caulfield, but they should not be expecting any favours from the 2014 Caulfield Cup champion.
“It’s going to be a right-handed track, so look to go right-handed,” Purton said with a cheeky grin when asked if he had any advice for Andrea Atzeni and Karis Teetan, who will be making their Caulfield debut in the 2400m event.
In Victoria, of course, races are conducted ‘left-handed’, or anti-clockwise, which is the opposite way to racing in Hong Kong.
Teetan, who rides the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Coco Sun, remains hopeful of getting Purton at a weak moment before the race is run at 5.15pm, but is also excited about catching up with ex-Hong Kong rival Joao Moreira, who rides $4.20 betting sites favourite Buckaroo.
“Zac, he’s a good guy like that, he would actually let you know what he thinks,” Teetan said.
“But I haven’t spoken to him yet. I will speak to him later, and I’m looking forward to going in the jockeys’ room tomorrow and speaking to the guys.”
It is the first time riding in Melbourne for Teetan, who left home at 13 to pursue a career as a rider in South Africa and is now firmly established as one of Hong Kong’s elite.
Coco Sun, who defeated the colts and geldings to win this year’s Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m), is yet to place in three runs this time in but Teetan will head to the races confident she has been trained to peak this weekend.
“She won the Derby, so she stays the trip and the McEvoy family are very happy with the preparation,” Teetan said on Friday.
“He last run was good in that firm going, she pulled up good, and I think that they are positive for tomorrow.”
Teetan, 34, planned to walk the Caulfield track on Friday afternoon, as did Atzeni, who has the ride on Zardozi, but the 33-year-old is not relying on Purton for the advice that he hopes will lead him to a Caulfield Cup to go with the Sydney Cup he won earlier this year on Circle Of Fire.
The Italian who learnt his trade in England turned to close friend and two-time Caulfield Cup winner Mark Zahra and 2008 champion Kerrin McEvoy for pointers.
“I spoke to Mark Zahra, he obviously won it last year, and I spoke to (Kerrin) McEvoy, he actually rode Zardozi before so he gave me a few tips about her and the track and the race itself,” Atzeni said.
“It definitely helps. Also, they’re not in the race, so they’re not a rival.”
Atzeni considers the James Cummings-trained Zardozi a great chance, especially with the prospect of a rain-affected track.
“She’s obviously in with a light weight and The Metropolitan run was a great run,” Atzeni said.
“She’s had a few runs this year (season) and she looks like she’s improved every run and on the back of that last run with the light weight, you’d think she’d be very, very competitive.”
