From the heights and genius of winning the Longines International Jockeys Challenge in midweek, champion rider Zac Purton found his social media skills out of favour with the Hong Kong Stewards on Friday,
Zac Purton – errror of judgement
The Stewards interviewed Purton regarding a tweet he acknowledged that he sent out on Thursday, 10 December 2020.
Purton was found guilty of a charge of misconduct under Rule 155(5), the specifics of the charge being that he did send out a tweet on his twitter feed at about 6:35 pm on 10 December 2020 which said, “Has a jockey in Hong Kong just tested positive to Covid?”, such wording having the potential to create uncertainty regarding the continuance of racing in Hong Kong in the immediate future.
Having considered the circumstances of this case as well as Jockey Purton’s previous record in respect of misconduct related matters, the Stewards deemed the appropriate penalty be a fine of HK $40,000. That’s over R78 000 at current rates.
Purton has ridden two great winners at today’s Sha Tin meeting – including Normcore in the HK$ 28 MILLION Gr1 Longines Hong Kong Cup.
