Zac Purton is looking forward to climbing aboard Gun Pit on Wednesday night (18 November). The exciting dirt track specialist is the prime draw in the feature race at Sha Tin’s exclusively all-weather track meeting, the Class 1 Jackson Handicap (1650m), a competitive contest that will likely determine whether or not the Caspar Fownes trainee takes up a G1 engagement in Japan early next month.
Fownes has had his eyes fixed on the Champions Cup (1800m) at Chukyo for Gun Pit all season, and, with that aim in mind, the talented five-year-old makes his season’s debut three and a half weeks ahead of that 6 December feature, formerly known as the Japan Cup Dirt.
“Caspar’s given him a good grounding,” said Purton, who has ridden the gelding in three of four barrier trials since late September. “He’s only going to have this one run and obviously if he wins or runs very well it looks like he’s going to Japan after this.”
“Caspar had to make sure he had the miles in his legs and he’s done that. He’s drawn a nice gate; he’s been jumping well in his trials, so he should be able to take advantage of that. I just hope they run along at a nice speed. With a big weight that he’s got it’s nice to just breeze into it instead of having to sit and sprint, so if everything falls into place for him, hopefully he’ll get it done. I wouldn’t say he’s at his top, but he’s getting there and this run should top him.”
Unbeaten in six starts on Sha Tin’s dirt surface, Gun Pit will carry 132lb against 13 rivals. Among those are the talented top-weight Harbour Master (133lb) and smart dirt track winners Access Years (124lb) and Exciting Dream (127lb), as well as the useful Tour De Force (130lb) and Rainbow Chic (129lb).
