Joao "Magic Man" Moreira sits poised to claim the all-time record for winners ridden in a single Hong Kong season after levelling Douglas Whyte's benchmark at last night's Happy Valley meeting.

Moreira tore his way through the first half of the Valley card, making the Jockey Challenge "uncompetitive" in very short order as he landed Forgive And Forget for Michael Chang Chun-wai, then a running double for Danny Shum Chap-shing with Foodie and Trendiful.

The treble took the Brazilian to 114 wins, Whyte's tally that has stood since the 2005-06 season, but he was unable to stretch it out to four to claim the record outright on the night and that will have to wait a few days longer until Saturday.

"I've watched Douglas Whyte riding for so many years now; to equal his record is something I never thought that could happen," Moreira said.

"My immediate focus is now on breaking records, but you press guys have been asking me all season what my target is - well now I will tell you.

"My aim for the rest of the season is to ride a winner for every meeting until the end of the season and that would give me 131 wins. I think I would be pretty happy with that."

A feature of Moreira's wins throughout this season has been how often he has turned non-winners into winners by a clear margin.

Shum commented on that after Foodie won by almost two lengths and Trendiful, winless in 13 prior runs, had scored by more than four.

"I guess they will pay for it in the handicap, but with Joao, they run so much better that they can win," Shum said.

"I guess it's better that they win easily and go up in the ratings instead of not winning at all and both of these horses were winning for the first time. He's a sensational jockey."

Moreira's display on Foodie was one of his best, navigating an early check that later cost Zac Purton a three-day ban and a HK$60,000 fine, and finding a perfect path through the race from gate nine.

"Foodie had 15 starts in England, so for such an experienced horse there it was hard to get him acclimatised in a new place here," said Shum.

"He is acclimatised now and going OK, but at the same time he isn't anything special - just a Class Three, Class Four type of horse.

"Trendiful has always shown a bit of ability, but it took him until Class Five to win. For that win, he'll go up maybe 11 or 12 points and back to Class Four. He can probably handle Class Four, but only if Joao rides him."

Derek Leung Ka-chun needs five more wins to equal his best season after moving to seventh on the table and 23 wins with a double on Glory Horsie for Derek Cruz and Grand Harbour for John Moore.

Cruz said Glory Horsie had been an excellent servant for the stable since joining his team and the win came one start later than anticipated.

"I thought he would win last time, but he drew wide and couldn't get the right run; from a low draw tonight it all went to plan," he said.

Another to break through for his first local win was Me Tsui Yu-sak-trained Happy Bao Bei (Brett Prebble), who led throughout in the sixth and showed none of the awkward traits he has displayed at times at Sha Tin.

"He's dropped a long way in the ratings since arriving and he had won five races in Australia, so he had become well handicapped," said Prebble.

"It's interesting that he was very manageable tonight, first time at the Valley, so maybe getting on the float and having the trip here did something for him mentally.

"He wasn't entirely happy around the turns at his first look so he could even be a little better next time now he's had the experience."