For someone as competitive as Joao Moreira there's only one thing worse than not winning, and that is helplessly sitting on the sidelines suspended, watching as the horses he could have been riding - and that's a lot of them - win.

Unfortunately for Moreira the one thing he has done nearly as much as winning in the last 12 months is get suspended, and the Brazilian channelled his pent-up frustration into a virtuoso display yesterday when he returned from another three meeting ban with a treble yesterday at Happy Valley.

"It's hard for me to be sitting on the sofa watching my rides win races," Moreira said after wins on Helen's Choice, Owners' Glory and Gentilis took his total to 18 for the season so far.

Despite the triple success, and a five win lead in the jockeys' championship, maybe it speaks volumes of Moreira's competitiveness that he was still ruing those missed opportunities. "A few horses I could have been on won in the last couple of weeks, so I couldn't wait to get back."

Moreira said it helped to ride the first winner of the day on Francis Lui Kin-wai's Helen's Choice: "It got my confidence back right away."

But by far the most progressive of Moreira's winners was Dennis Yip Chor-hong's lively sprinter Gentilis, who bounced straight to the front and never looked back in a Class Three handicap.

Yip says he will aim Gentilis at the Happy Valley Million Challenge, the series that uses a scoring system for mid-season races at the track, which favours horses able to progress through the grades.

"It looks good for him because he won off 62 today and he can win again," Yip said after the easy two and a half length win.

"He has great gate speed and that helps him here, I think he can win over 1,000m here too." Yip did have one minor gripe at Moreira's effort. "My only complaint was that the jockey won by too much and he will go up more in the ratings," he said with a laugh.

Moreira backed the trainer's opinion that the four-year-old was better suited at the smaller track.

"He certainly does love it here at this track and seems to go better," Moreira said.

"Even if he didn't jump well today he would have won, but the fact he got there so quickly meant I could settle him in front and when I asked for a kick on the turn he really responded and kicked away."