On 31 May at Sha Tin, Zac Purton became the first jockey in Hong Kong history to ride 2,000 winners. The horse that got him there was Rising World, a two-year-old debutant winning by a short head.

The 43-year-old Australian has spent nearly two decades reshaping every record in Hong Kong racing – eight jockeys’ championships, 35 Group One wins, the only rider ever to have won all 12 Group One races on the Hong Kong calendar, and a single-season record of 179 winners in 2022/23. His current partnership with world-champion sprinter Ka Ying Rising has now produced a Hong Kong record of 20 consecutive wins.

But as Purton told The Bay in an exclusive interview, the road to 2,000 was anything but smooth – from being sacked three rides into his career as a teenager, to spending years in daily pain that nearly ended everything. This is the story behind the numbers.

[See more: Zac Purton becomes first jockey to ride 2,000 winners in Hong Kong]

You said after the race that you’ve had to work for it. What did that mean to you?

When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I was a relatively young jockey walking into a jockey’s room full of riders who had been here for ten-plus years – late thirties, early forties, well established, with good connections. Why were they going to put a young kid on, whom they’d never heard of, over jockeys they already knew and had success with? 

Some jockeys come here later in their careers with a big name already, so they get given more opportunities because of the status they carry. I had to start at the bottom. I had to grind away and work hard. It was years and years of sacrifice.

What actually went through your mind in those final strides aboard Rising World?

There’s a bit of everything. Every winner in Hong Kong is important, whether it’s a Class 5 horse on the dirt or a Group One at Sha Tin. With the milestone itself, I wasn’t too worried – it was always going to happen eventually.

But I was very happy that the kids were able to be there. When I broke Douglas Whyte’s all-time record, I did it at Sha Tin and they weren’t able to be there, so they missed out. Now they’re a bit older, and they love going racing. It was great that they were able to experience it and appreciate it. That’s what I thought about first, how glad I was that they got to share that.

Most people remember the wins. But what shaped you more – the losses?

You learn more in defeat than you do in victory, and the losses hurt more because you haven’t had the result. I came here wanting to get better, wanting to test myself against the best riders in the world. 

Hong Kong is a great place for that. Jockeys come from everywhere with different riding styles, and they’re all successful. I could watch replays and study what they do. I arrived like a sponge, with an appetite to learn and improve. And then hopefully, at some stage, you get into a position to win big races, challenge for a premiership, tick off milestones. It’s been a journey.

There’s a story about you being sacked three rides into your career. How close did that come to ending everything?

I was young, and I was going out at night with a couple of mates. My boss was around 62 at the time, and I was maybe 16 or 17, and he thought I should be home in bed. We didn’t see eye to eye on that, and he decided to teach me a lesson by sacking me. But he must have had a bit of a think about it, because he ended up begging me to come back – and I did, and things worked out well after that.

You’ve credited your wife, Nicole, as central to your success. What did that support actually look like, especially in the hard seasons?

We arrived in 2007 – Nicole was only 19, and I was about 23 or 24. We’ve been on the whole journey together, ridden every high and every low. 

Early on, she was very positive but a little naive about racing – if I ran third or fourth, she’d get excited. “You did so well!” And I’d think, ‘But I haven’t won the race.’ But she’d say, “I know, but the horse ran well, and you gave him the best ride.” Her positivity and the confidence she had in me kept my spirits up in those early stages.

The important part is that she’s been there from the very start. She hasn’t walked in at the end. She’s ridden the wave of success with me the whole way through.

A few years ago, you said your body was telling you it had enough. What happened?

I had a bad fall and came down on my hip. In that fall, I fractured my wrist, my nose in two places, my foot in seven places, my ankles, and seven ribs. When I came back, my hip was in agony – I couldn’t walk properly. I was going to the physio five days a week for two to three years. I got to the stage where I couldn’t ride track work sometimes; I was missing barrier trials, just trying to give my hip as much rest as I could while still getting to the races. I was sick of being in pain every day, sick of getting out of bed and not being able to walk. I thought I just couldn’t do this anymore.

Then I went away for the off-season, came back, and for whatever reason, it had settled down. After three years of acupuncture, Western medicine, Chinese medicine, ultrasound, shockwave, and everything, it finally turned around. And then Ka Ying Rising came along. I’m glad I kept going.

Ka Ying Rising is rated the world’s best sprinter. What does it actually feel like to be on him?

It’s hard to understand how one horse can be so much better than all the others. I’ve ridden so many horses over my career, and this one just stands out, head and shoulders above the rest at the sprint distances. He runs at such a high cruising speed and does it so effortlessly that when the other horses get tired, he has that extra gear – he just kicks into it and puts them away in a matter of strides. When he’s galloping like that, it honestly feels like he’s not even touching the ground. He’s just gliding across it.

Off the track, he’s like a cuddly teddy bear. Go into his box, and he loves a pat, loves a carrot. But when we started, he was quite fine and frail, a bit lacking in strength and confidence. Now he’s big, strong, powerful – a complete monster, really. He’s gone from a skinny young horse to something incredible to watch. He’s a part of my story now, and I’m a part of his.

After 35 Group Ones, eight championships, and every record on the board, is there anything left that genuinely excites you?

There’s nothing left to chase in terms of records – at 43, I’ve won everything. But motivation? I’m still hungry. I still want to win every race. I still love the competitive nature of what I do, and mostly I just enjoy winning races. It’s never been hard to get out of bed and keep working hard and keep trying to be the best. That’s always been me. I’m competitive, I like to win. I love the position I’m in.

Your trophy cabinet takes up an entire wall of your apartment. Which one means the most?

They’re all very special. My first Hong Kong champion jockey title was extremely special – I’d worked so hard over such a long period to earn it, and it really was a crowning moment at the time. 

The one marked 1,814, the win that broke Douglas Whyte’s all-time record, is very special. The Everest trophy. The Derby trophies. But the one that’s missing, the one I’d still love to win, is the Melbourne Cup. If I can win that, it would complete everything for me.