Zac Purton will miss Wednesday night’s Happy Valley meeting, with the reigning champion jockey sidelined by Covid-19 for the second time this month.

Purton, who also missed the Valley fixture on November 16 after testing positive, was set to have eight rides at the midweek meeting, but instead joins Antoine Hamelin, Jye McNeil and Ruan Maia on the outer after that trio returned positive tests on Tuesday.

“The club’s chief medical officer is investigating a possible asymptomatic re-positive case, following a positive polymerase chain reaction test of Purton undertaken this morning,” the Jockey Club said in a release.

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“Purton first tested positive for Covid-19 on November 13 and has since fully recovered. Purton has been stood down from race riding at tonight’s Happy Valley race meeting.”

He has been replaced by Harry Bentley (Raging Blaze and Heroic Master), Keith Yeung Ming-lun (Mr Fun and Prime Minister), Vincent Ho Chak-yiu (Vincy), Jack Wong Ho-nam (Medic Elite and Harmony And Rich) and Luke Currie (Rattan Kingdom).

A runaway leader in the jockeys’ premiership with 51 winners, Purton is considered a chance to return at Sha Tin on Sunday.