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Sacred Man and Zac Purton have provided trainer Joe Lau and Raffles Racing with their second SJM Derby with a runaway victory in Saturday’s blue riband event over 1800 metres.

It what was one of the easiest wins in the history of the race, Sacred Man destroyed his rivals to win by eight and a half lengths from Krystrump (Wayne Smith), with The Moon’s Back a neck away in third.

Sacred Man is raced by Raffles Racing Supremo Dato K S Yap in partnership with Mr. Chen Ching Lung. The duo also race The Alfonso who Joe Lau trained to win the Derby by five and a quarter lengths in 2015.

The race was marred by tragedy when the 30/1 shot Chok King broke down at the winning post the first time. The incident caused chaos to many of the runners including Joao Moreira’s mount the $1.8 favorite Obrigado Mais, the highly fancied River Treasure (Peter Ho), along with Wudang Mountain and Macau Moonlight.

Sacred Man was sent forward hard out of the gates by Zac Purton in what became a crucial move, as the gelding had crossed Chok King who had drawn to his inside by the time the incident occurred. Purton parked off the early leader Winbeauty Infiniti who surrendered the lead early at the eight hundred. That left the son of Fastnet Rock (Aus) in front much longer then Purton would have liked. Once heads were turned for home Purton cut loose on Sacred Man and the four year old showed a brilliant turn of foot to race away and win easily.

Second placed Krystrump turned in a gutsy effort, with the lowest rated runner in the set weights contest The Moon’s Back, running on well for a creditable third.

With plenty of rain early in the week and thunderstorms predicted for Friday and Saturday, the track was expected to be soft at best. The rains failed to arrive and the raceday surface at yielding rode much slicker than anticipated. That no doubt was a major factor in Sacred Man’s win.

“I’ve got to say it’s been a wonderful surprise.” Joe Lau said after the win.

“I never doubted his ability and I was so happy with him coming into the race. But I lost a lot of confidence with the track forecast.”

“He’s struggled here in the wet and even his Australian form was average on the soft ground but it was amazing how good the track came up. In saying that he surprised me with the ease of his win.”

Lau had originally planned to have Sacred Man back off the speed but changed his mind after viewing the earlier races.

“I talked to Zac (Purton) and we both agreed that being forward and close to the rail was the place to be.”

Sacred Man was formerly trained by Chris Waller in Australia where he raced as Triple Ex, winning two races from his eight starts both at Hawkesbury, in what was not exactly an inspiring record.

Joe Lau has long been considered the doyen of trainers in Macau, and like The Alfonso another ex Waller galloper that Lau took over, Sacred Man has really blossomed under his care.

Zac Purton was the star of the day winning three races including the two feature Group 1 events.

Purton earlier combined with Tony Cruz to win the Macau- Hong Kong Trophy with the consistent Romantic Touch who showed plenty of fight to stave off a late bid from The Alfonso (Luis Corrales), with Kelowna Star (Wayne Smith ) running on for third.

Tony Cruz has been an ardent supporter of the inter-port series since its inception back in 2004.

Cruz made a clean sweep of the series with the brilliant galloper Helene Pillaging under Felix Coetzee in 2005, however his subsequent attempts to win the race have been thwarted by wet tracks.

This time it was a very confident Cruz who stated in an interview after Wednesday’s barrier draw, “This time I’ve come prepared,” referring to Romantic Touch’s ability to handle any ground.

Zac Purton also gave his usual polished display in a lovely front running ride on the Danny Wong trained Oh So Easy to take out the Group 3 Grand Lisboa Cup over 1500 metres.

Oh So Easy is a hard front running type that often goes too hard for his own good. Purton however got the son of Snippetson (Aus) to travel sweetly in the lead and he looked strong going to the line to beat Grand Double Win (Peter Ho) by three lengths, with Perfect Alloy back in third.

Oh So Easy’s time was a good 1.28.5 on a track rated as yielding, which was .02 slicker then Romantic Dream’s 1.28.7 in the following event the Macau – Hong Kong Trophy.

Huka Eagle gave prominent Australian owner Colin Keane his first Group 1 victory with a brilliant win in the other headline event on the day the Chairman’s Challenge Cup over 1200 metres.

Given a perfect ride from gate seven by Andrew Calder, Huka Eagle found the fence soon after the start and enjoyed the run of the race behind the fast speed set up my Wealthy East, Sparta and Mister Kaopu.

Once in the straight the five year old son of Swiss Ace (Aus) darted between runners and raced away for a good win.

Huka Eagle jumped at odds of 33/1 due to the class of the field, and the win gave Geoff Allendorf his first victory in the time honored event with the trainer admitting his surprise with the win.

“He has not necessarily gone any better than he always does he’s just a totally honest horse who just gives his best every time.” Allendorf said.

“It was a lovely ride and the cushion in the track was a big help to him.”

“It’s a big thrill after winning a lot of Cup races over here with horses like Bennetts Green and others for Colin Keane to finally give him his first Group 1 race.”

Winning jockey Andrew Calder was also full of praise for Huka Eagle after the win.

“He is a lovely honest horse who gives whatever he can.”

“He was able to turn the tables on some of his opposition that had beaten him coming up in the grades”

“We got into great spot during the race and he was game all the way.”

Huka Eagle who was Group 1 placed in the Levin Classic in New Zealand, earned a total of $66,775 NZD in prize money whilst there for his eight starts and three wins. The gelding has won three races and placed six times from his 15 runs in Macau and won over $1.4 million HKD in stakes, the equivalent of $260,000 NZD by the current rate.