Attacking! Zac Purton guides Oratorio’s Military Attack to a great win
Australian jockey Zac Purton produced a masterful ride to register a great win in Sunday’s HK$8 million ($1.03 million) Gr1 Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin racecourse. The winner Military Attack is a smart son of Avontuur stallion Oratorio, and may now be aimed at the Gr1 Dubai Duty Free.
Oratorio recently took up residence at Avontuur in the Western Cape, and this superb victory can only add further impetus to the local buzz and excitement as he prepares for his official public launch at the beautiful farm in May.
Talking to the Sporting Post on Sunday, Avontuur General Manager Pippa Mickleburgh labelled the win ‘fantastically thrilling’ and said that the Oratorio Syndicate members were over the moon.
She said that the son of Danehill, who had only arrived in Somerset West a week earlier, had settled in well and just loved his food.
Owner Steven Lo Kit Sing ‘s Military Attack hit the front with 200 metres remaining of the 2000m race and surged away from the field to give revered Australian trainer John Moore another success in the illustrious event.
The Irish horse, formally called Rave, finished ahead of Pure Champion, ridden by Gerald Mosse, in second with Douglas Whyte leading Xtension home in third. California Memory, winner in 2011, finished second last.
John Moore has always rated Military Attack a Group 1 winner in the making and the horse proved the trainer’s judgement to be spot on:
“We’ve always thought this horse could put together a run like that and the closing quarters proved he can be ridden handy off that kind of pace. The hope for the future now is that he can put another Group 1 win together,” said the trainer, for whom this was a fifth success in eight editions of the 2000m contest.
The Number’s In! Aussie jockey Zac Purton rode Military Attack
The win represented the forging of a new G1 partnership as jockey Zac Purton landed a first top level win for the Moore stable. The rider settled Military Attack handy on the rail after jumping smartly from gate one as stable mate Same World led ahead of Liberator.
“John asked me to get three back the fence if I could – he was quite specific about that instruction,” said Purton. “I didn’t expect him to jump as well as he did, I could have nearly led them up early, so I was taking a bit of a tug on him just asking him to come back.
“Because my horse doesn’t race so handy generally, I was trying not to let him use himself too much, so I was letting Same World go a little bit just to let my horse travel comfortable beneath me and within himself – if I was chasing him I would have been doing too much.”
When asked the question, Military Attack responded with a surge at the 200m mark that took him to a commanding two and a half-length verdict over the deep closing Pure Champion in a time of 2m 03.01s.
“It was a fantastic feeling,” recalled the rider. “I just poked my head through the gap and once I got through there I knew I had the race won, I sort of just put a hold on him there before I let him go and his turn-of-foot was explosive. We know he can reel off good sectionals – every time he goes out there to race he runs 22 something – so I thought if he produced that again he would blow them away today. That was no fluke!”
The Hong Kong Gold Cup was first run at Sha Tin Racecourse on 14 January 1979. Its inception deliberately coincided with the launch of the Privately Purchased Horses scheme, which was then in its infancy.
This race became the second leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown after the series was introduced in the 1991/92 season.
