Zac Purton has said he has been left “a little bit bemused” after Maureen Haggas launched an extraordinary outburst regarding his ride on Lake Forest in Saturday’s King Charles III Stakes.
Maureen, wife of trainer William Haggas, pulled no punches when voicing her thoughts on Purton’s ride aboard Lake Forest, who failed to fire in the Group 1 at Royal Randwick and ultimately finished last of the 12-runner field.
“It was about the worst ride I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Haggas told Racing TV on Wednesday night. “I was appalled, absolutely appalled.
“We went all that way and I don’t know Zac Purton at all, but it was just dreadful. It was so disappointing because everyone knows he’s a horse that you have to tell him he’s got to do it, and he knew that and he was told it.
“He just sat there like a big sissy. I was horrified, I really was. We’ve gone all that way at that huge expense on the owner’s part.”
After the extraordinary tirade on Purton, who won the world’s richest turf race earlier in the card and became the first jockey in Hong Kong racing history to pass 1,900 wins at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, Haggas also brought reigning Longines World’s Best Jockey James McDonald into the equation for his ride on Sam Hawkens, who weakened into seventh after taking the lead in the G3 St Leger Stakes earlier on the card.
“It just makes you realise just how lucky we are with the jockeys we have in England, Ireland and France when you compare them to the rides we got on Saturday which were really shockingly awful.”
🗣 "It was about the worse ride I've seen in my entire life"
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 22, 2025
It's safe to say that Maureen Haggas was not impressed with the ride that Lake Forest got at Randwick on Saturday. 👇 pic.twitter.com/jGo57UGMAa
In his response, Purton jokingly laughed off the comments and said that Lake Forest, who was settled towards the rear of the field, failed to respond to his urgings when he urged him forwards.
“I’m a little bit bemused on her take on the race to be honest, but she’s entitled to that,” Purton told Idol Horse.
“She’s entitled to her opinion and I thank her for her advice, but I haven’t had time to watch the replay yet because I’ve been too busy watching replays of myself winning the A$20 million Everest,” he added to SEN, referencing his victory aboard the world’s highest-rated sprinter, Ka Ying Rising.
“I followed Ceolwulf, who went on to win the race, so I thought he wasn’t a bad horse to be following. He put seven lengths on me. As soon as they quickened, my horse just went up and down in the one spot.
“Where [Haggas] probably went too far was dragging James McDonald into it as well. He’s leading the world’s best jockey standings and she said that we both gave our rides ‘really shockingly awful rides’.” ∎
