It is probably harsh to label Joao Moreira's recent output as a mid-season flat spot, but these things are relative, and Zac Purton can continue his rival's run of outs in the Jockey Challenge at Sha Tin today, reports racing.scmp.com.
Moreira failed to ride a winner at Wednesday's meeting at Happy Valley and it represented the sixth straight meeting where he has failed to capture the Jockey Challenge.
An average of one winner per meeting over five dates hardly constitutes a serious slump and Moreira's nine rides to Purton's eight gives him a numerical advantage, but the Australian can still upstage his arch-nemesis with the help of a couple of key rides.
Purton is in superb form having won the Jockey Challenge at the last two Sha Tin meetings, he boasts one of the best bets of the day among his rides and starts with a stronger hand than Moreira.
In race two, John Size-trained Luger looks entitled to be an odds-on favourite in a Class One mile after going within a whisker of clinching a Group One at set weights last time out, and should deliver Purton maximum points. Purton then rides Dancing Flames for Danny Shum Chap-shing and again it seems the Australian rider will be right in the reckoning.
Races four through seven look pivotal to the overall outcome of the Jockey Challenge, although Circuit Land might be the one to seal it for Purton in race eight as the Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained five-year-old carries 120 pounds in a Class Two handicap on the dirt.
Kei Chiong Ka-kei has a handy book after her breakout meeting last Sunday and midweek debut at Happy Valley, but some sort of all-up around her four best chances would represent better value than the odds on offer last night.