Australian Wins Jockey Competition in Japan

Zachary Purton, an Australian riding in Hong Kong, won the 2012 World Super Jockeys Series at Tokyo Racecourse Nov. 25. During the four-race series that spanned the weekend of racing, Nov. 24-25, Purton earned 52 points and rode the winners of two races, one each day.

Purton captured the first and last races of the series. He first won the Nov. 24 Excellent Jockeys Trophy on 3-year-old Shonan Lambsey (Dance in the Dark—Focal Star, by White Muzzle). The following day he took the Prominent Jockeys Trophy aboard 4-year-old Santono Panther (King Kamehameha—Pisa No Venetian, by Sunday Silence).

Suguru Hamanaka of Japan finished second with 40 points. He won the Nov. 25 Marvelous Jockeys Trophy on 3-year-old American Winner. An American-bred son of Bernardini  —Zappeuse, by Kingmambo, American Winner is a $140,000 graduate of the 2010 Keeneland fall yearling sale.

Ryan Moore of England was third with 37 points. Japan's Isao Yamaguchi, who won the Nov. 24 Fantastic Jockeys Trophy on 4-year-old Bravosky (Stravinsky—Bravo Sunrise, by Sunday Silence), tied for sixth.

No American jockeys participated in the series this year. Jerry Bailey won the event in 1996.