Purton says ‘the sky’s the limit’ for Sweynesse after Speed Series clean sweep

Zac Purton believes “the sky’s the limit” for Lucky Sweynesse after Manfred Man Ka-leung’s best-ever galloper became the first horse since all-time great Silent Witness to collect the Hong Kong Speed Series bonus.

Lucky Sweynesse’s three-and-a-quarter-length Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m) victory earned his connections HK$16.4 million – with HK$5 million of that a bounty for taking out all three races in this term’s series – and equalled his biggest winning margin.

“This horse just continues to get better, and I feel like we’re going to see a better horse again next season. The sky’s the limit for him,” Purton said after Lucky Sweynesse joined Mr Vitality (1996), Grand Delight (2003) and Silent Witness (both 2004 and 2005) as the only gallopers to land the Speed Series bonus since its introduction in 1994.

Lucky Sweynesse was three deep as the Chairman’s Sprint Prize field made their way around the first turn, but the early tempo was slower than standard time. Eventually, both the $1.20 favourite and Master Eight managed to cross Wellington and Sight Success, and Purton positioned his relaxed mount in the trail behind the pacesetting Joao Moreira-ridden roughie.

Master Eight led the Chairman’s Sprint Prize to the 400m marker in 46.04 seconds – almost three-tenths of a second outside the Group benchmark – before Lucky Sweynesse took the race by the scruff of its neck in a couple of strides, running the final sectional in 22.26s to almost match the standard overall time.

“That’s what we were hoping we were going to see,” Purton said of Lucky Sweynesse’s performance that delivered his fifth consecutive triumph.

“It was just a matter of whether he could get out of the gates and get himself into a nice position. To his credit, he began really well. He had Wellington and Sight Success holding their spots inside me going into the first corner and trying to make me do a little bit of work. I was worried doing that extra bit of work on him might be a telling factor.”

Purton need not have worried. Courier Wonder produced his best run this term, but still he was a distant Chairman’s Sprint Prize runner-up, while the four-and-a-half-length gap between Lucky Sweynesse and third-placed Wellington was the largest differential in any of their six meetings.

Lucky Sweynesse leads Wellington 4-2 in their personal series, and it seems only a matter of time before the three-time Group One-winning former equals, then surpasses, the latter’s four elite-level victories.

Lucky Sweynesse holds an entry in the Group One Yasuda Kinen (1,600m) at Tokyo on June 4. While Purton declined to say where he thinks Lucky Sweynesse should showcase his talents next – “I don’t train or own him, so it’s not my decision” – the champion jockey did comment about the superstar sprinter’s suitability for that assignment.

“The mile in Japan is a very testing mile,” said Purton, who partnered Hong Kong-trained gallopers Fellowship (ninth in 2010) and Beauty Only (sixth in 2017) in the Yasuda Kinen.

“I’m not going to say [Lucky Sweynesse] can’t run the distance because, obviously, his racing mannerisms will help him – he’ll get into his position and he’ll relax and conserve his energy until he needs to produce – but like I always say, until you run a horse over the distance, you can’t be sure.”

Like Purton, Man refused to rule out Lucky Sweynesse contesting the Yasuda Kinen, but the trainer did suggest he would prefer to campaign his horse of a lifetime over less than 1,600m.

“At this moment, we’re thinking about 1,200m or 1,400m. A mile is still a concern,” Man said.

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