Maureen Haggas Backed in Zac Purton Ride Controversy at Randwick

Emma Nagle has backed Maureen Haggas in her row with Zac Purton over his ride on Lake Forest in the King Charles III Stakes at Randwick earlier this month.

Trainer Haggas described Purton’s ride as “the worst ride I think I've ever seen in my entire life” before the jockey responded by describing it as a “storm in a teacup”.

Haggas did not back down after Purton’s response and insisted she wished she had sent Cieren Fallon for the ride down under.

Why Haggas Is Justified

Speaking on irishracing.com’s Irish Angle show this week, Nagle pointed to Tom Marquand’s ride on Lake Forest in the City of York Stakes in August, when he finished second behind Never So Brave, as an example Purton should have followed.

She explained: “If you watch back his run at York before he went down to Australia in the City of York Stakes, there was one stage throughout the race where it looked like he was probably going to drop off the back of the telly, and then he stayed on with a more vigorous ride and ended up finishing second and was probably a bit unlucky in running as well.

“So he’s obviously a horse who takes a bit of riding, and look, Zac Purton’s obviously a world-class rider, but every jockey is capable of giving a horse a below-par ride.

“I tend to agree with Maureen Haggas on this one, to be honest.

“I liked the fact that in her second interview, she didn’t back down on her point. She was maybe trying to calm down the fire a bit, but she still stuck to her guns, which I think was good to see when you get so much backlash publicly

“Australian racing Twitter really back their own. They don’t like to see criticism of their horses, jockeys, or trainers from anywhere else in the world. She was really gone after in the Australian media, and Zac Purton’s comments added a bit more entertainment value to it.

“I thought the way he said he didn’t have time to watch back the race because he was watching himself win the 20 million Everest maybe kind of justified her point a bit. To me, it made it seem like he didn’t really care as much about that race, considering he had won the big one on the day, which made it feel like Maureen Haggas was even more right than before.

“But it was entertaining — it was good to see the back and forth between them. You don’t see it too often. It’s probably no harm to see in racing because it definitely adds entertainment value.”

"I probably went a bit over the top..."

Maureen Haggas reflects on her recent comments surrounding Zac Purton's ride aboard Lake Forest in Australia... pic.twitter.com/hnNMuaOuCG

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 24, 2025

Public Row Rare In Racing

Racing journalist Johnny Ward admitted he was surprised to see the row played out in public.

He said: “I suppose it’s very rare that you’d see something like this.

“I’d say she said more in this debate than her Dad [Lester Piggott] nearly said in his entire life about anything. It’s kind of funny that the apple falls a long way from the tree at times.

“I thought it was very entertaining, but I’m not sure it was very edifying in some respects. It’s something that doesn’t happen very often.

“I think in racing there’s a good understanding that you don’t burn bridges. If you have an issue with something, you handle it privately,

“Maureen Haggas is very entertaining, but personally, I don’t really feel I have the knowledge or expertise to criticise rides to the extent that she has.”

Lake Forest Performance Analysed

irishracing.com editor Vincent Finegan explained that Lake Forest’s form suggested he should have performed better in the King Charles III Stakes.

He said: “Her father was the greatest jockey of all time, without doubt so she should know what she’s talking about to some level.

“But I think what it comes back to here is that the horse is very tricky. They were talking about this — it’s a very tricky horse in the parade ring, on the way to the start, and in the stalls as well.

“The thing with him is he seems to be a very lazy horse, so you have to ride him a certain way.

“When you try to stoke him up, he won’t do anything initially, and you’ve got to keep at him, keep at him, and then he’ll finally go for you.

“His form is pretty consistent at that level as well, so he should have been somewhere in contention if he was 100% right.

“Of course, Zac Purton said he was tricky in the parade ring, tricky on the way to the start, tricky in the stalls, he pulled a little bit hard during the race, and then when he pressed the button nothing happened.

“But the bottom line is, she’s saying she told you nothing would happen initially, you had to keep going with him, and he didn’t persevere. That seems to be it in a nutshell as far as I can gather.”

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