He may be 21 wins clear of his nearest rival and seemingly untouchable at the summit of the jockeys’ championship, but Zac Purton admits this season has “been a bit of a grind” as he heads to Happy Valley’s Thursday meeting with a strong book of rides.

Monday’s bumper Lunar New Year programme at Sha Tin marked the beginning of the second half of the season and Purton was once again celebrating big-race success after snaring the feature aboard Red Lion.

Wins aboard Red Lion and Ka Ying Rising continued Purton’s strong start to 2024, moving him to 65 wins after 45 of the season’s 88 meetings and extending his lead over Karis Teetan.

While Purton would be heavily odds-on to be crowned champion jockey once again this term, the 41-year-old says it has been a challenging first half of the campaign and hopes Thursday’s meeting at the city circuit can kick-start a smooth remainder of the season.

“It’s been a bit of a grind through the first half,” Purton said. “Hopefully, the second half is a bit better.”

Although Purton is 25 wins short of where he was at the same point of his record-breaking 2022-23 season, he is sitting on the same number of victories as the 2020-21 campaign, which saw him end on 136 triumphs.

Travelling to Happy Valley armed with nine rides, Purton again hops aboard Nicholson Returns, who will attempt to build on a commanding 2,000m win at Sha Tin last month, in the Class Three Yue Man Handicap (1,800m).

After entering the race winless from his past eight starts, Nicholson Returns put three and a quarter lengths between himself and the runner-up to brush aside his rivals in Class Four company.

Nicholson Returns will have to defy a 10-point hike and a wide gate to string together consecutive wins and Purton believes the David Hall-trained gelding may have his work cut out.

“He had one of those races last time, which he really loves,” Purton said. “The pace was on all the way and under those conditions, he just excels.

“Is he going to get that again on Thursday? I’m not sure. You generally only get that once a season, so it will just come down to how the race is run for him.”

Purton will also have to negotiate a wide berth when he reunites with three-time winner A Americ Te Specso in the Class Three Volunteers’ Challenge Cup (1,200m).

The John Size-trained son of Per Incanto has been hitting the line with plenty of conviction to fill the placings on three of his past five outings and faces 10 rivals under Purton.

“I thought he would be able to handle Class Three, but he just seems to be struggling in the class a little bit,” Purton said. “He’s running very consistently and very well, but he just lacks something at the moment for him to be able to get the job done.

“Whether he just needs a race where they go really fast and set it up for him or something like that. He just keeps coming up a little bit short. He’s honest and he’ll try hard – he gives absolutely everything.”