Frankie Lor Fu-chuen propelled himself into title contention with a Sha Tin treble that came on the back of a show of loyalty towards championship-leading jockey Joao Moreira.

The star Brazilian booted home Looking Great for Lor in the Class Three Mount Butler Handicap (1,800m) after admitting he was at fault for his last-start second placing a fortnight ago.

“Last time I lost the whip on this horse so I rung Frankie and I said ‘listen, it is all on me, it’s all my fault’,” Moreira said post race on Sunday.

“I wasn’t riding with a glove at the time, the horse was sweating, it got my whip wet and it slipped out from my hand – it cost us the race.

“I said to Frankie ‘if you give me one more go, just one more, I promise you I won’t make the same mistake and we will get a win out of him’.”

The rest is history, with the Australian import responding well to Moreira’s urgings to bolt in ahead of California Ten and Champion Supreme.

“Today was the day. During the race, I was going to put the whip up and I was looking at it thinking ‘you’re not going anywhere today, stick there’,” he laughed.

“The gloves were on today so it worked. That was a bit of loyalty from Frankie towards me and I really appreciate it.”

Lor’s treble saw him launch into third place in the trainers’ championship with 49 winners, just seven behind his former boss John Size.

The fourth-season handler has a stable of progressive, young horses – highlighted by the fact his three winners on Sunday were all lightly raced four-year-olds.

Everyone’s Delight and My Ecstatic rounded out Lor’s trio of winners, with the handler particularly impressed with the former’s effort.

The son of El Roca won his first start but then ran into Courier Wonder and Harmony N Blessed in successive starts, halting his run of form before tapering off momentarily.

“His first three races were good and then after that he wasn’t very consistent,” Lor said of his recent run of up-and-down form.

“We went to 1,400m last time – he had been there once before – and I said to sit second, third or fourth to let him finish off.

“Because of the wide draw I said not to use him up early, he was second last but came on quite strong.

“This time he got to midfield and on the outside so Alexis [Badel] did the right thing for me and he won the race in the end.”

After being beaten as a short-priced favourite twice at Happy Valley, Lor said a change in tactics proved the difference for My Ecstatic in the Class Four Stanley Gap Handicap (1,400m).

The trainer believes his son of All To Hard is a one-pacer, but the cards managed to fall his way.

“Before this race I didn’t think there would be much pace so I said to Zac [Purton] ‘lead and just keep it to yourself’,” he said.

“Then in the race they all come out going really fast so it was suitable for him to sit off them and he ended up doing what he did.”