Jockey Zac Purton was going to retire. Everest champ Ka Ying Rising changed everything

9 hours ago 2

Zac Purton stood on stage celebrating Ka Ying Rising’s triumph in The Everest, then immediately started asking if there was any way he could delay his flight home to Hong Kong.

Purton deserved to celebrate this latest triumph long and hard into the night given the immense pressure he was under to get the job done at Royal Randwick on Saturday on Hong Kong’s best horse.

The 42-year-old who grew up on the NSW Mid North Coast, but has called Hong Kong home for the past 18 years, shelved retirement plans when Ka Ying Rising came into his life a few years ago.

Purton wanted to pull the plug on his career at 40. A hip problem was causing him trouble, and he found himself going through the motions.

But Ka Ying Rising almost gave him a new sense of purpose – and the powerhouse win in the brilliant Sydney spring sunshine, in front of an equally brilliant young crowd – made the decision to race on worth it.

“I was just happy for the horse,” Purton said. “So much has been written about him and said about him. We knew how good he is at his best; I just wanted to show people in Australia that.

“He got the opportunity to do that with the draw, and the way the race was run, but he still had to deliver. And he did.

David Hayes and Zac Purton celebrate victory in The Everest.

“There was a lot of pressure. I had the weight of the nation on my shoulders. At the end of the day, I needed to block all that out. I had a job to do, and that was to try and give him his chance to win the race.”

Purton has won most of the big races around the globe, but rated The Everest the “single biggest moment” of his career.

Purton’s wife, Nicole, the daughter of champion jockey Jimmy Cassidy, said she was more stressed than her husband when they woke up on Saturday in the family home they have kept in Sydney’s east.

Zac Purton wins the Everest with Ka Ying Rising.

Zac headed to the local convenience store to buy a coffee and copy of The Sydney Morning Herald, while Nicole was left a bundle of nerves.

Nicole knew better than most how close Zac came to walking away from the sport.

“Sometimes things in life happen for a reason, and this horse might have been that something that came along at the right time,” she said. “It’s extremely special, and I can’t put into words how grateful we are for this journey the horse has taken us on.

“He’s always been easy to live with, but something that’s changed him is he’s enjoying his riding again.

“When you get to the point in your career when you’re deciding if you’re happy or not [to continue], and something comes along that is like a dream come true, you get a bit of skip in your step. That happened with Zac.”

Legendary jockey Corey Brown interviewed Purton on Friday for Sky Racing and noticed the hoop was a little subdued and focused, rather than his normally bubbly and even cocky self.

It should never be underestimate how tough it is for a rider to hold their nerve in a big race on a horse that is carrying the hopes of the masses.

“There are times you bugger things up under pressure; you can push the button too early, or get going too late, but Zac knew this horse back to front,” Brown said.

“Once he landed in his spot, he knew all he had to do was wait until the 300m or 400m and push the button.”

“It was an easy watch. Still, that pressure can get to a lot of jockeys. That was his biggest pressure yet, but he’s been to the top for so long, and ridden against the world’s best for a long time.

“He didn’t have the feathers up, or the 44-gallon drums under the arms when I interviewed him on Friday. He was very relaxed. He did say [trainer] David Hayes took the brunt of the pressure with the press. He just had to turn up and do his job, which he did.”

Purton knows he can keep going another year, maybe even two or three. Ka Ying Rising will return for The Everest.

“If he comes back in a year, I hope I’m with him,” said Purton, whose more immediate hope was booking a later flight.