Zac Purton became only the second jockey to ride 1,800 winners in Hong Kong when he capped a monstrous four days with a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Fresh from a record-equalling six winners at Happy Valley on Boxing Day, the champion Australian rider continued his surge towards Douglas Whyte’s all-time Hong Kong record of 1,813 with wins aboard Endeared, Masterofmyuniverse and Tourbillon Prince.

The seven-time champion Hong Kong jockey reached the milestone in Sunday’s final race on $20.8 shot Tourbillon Prince, who was Purton’s longest-priced winner since Moment Of Power ($34.7) at Happy Valley in 2021.

He is now just 13 wins behind Whyte’s record figure.

“Obviously there’s a lot of pride in reaching 1,800,” Purton said. “But it just comes down to the opportunities and support I get and I can’t do anything without that.

“I’ve been very lucky in my time here – I never thought I would get to this number, but I’m after another one now, so I’ve got to keep going. But it’s nice. It’s very satisfying.

“Being so close to the bigger number is going to overshadow this one, of course, but it’s been a good end of the year and hopefully we can start next year just as well.”

Purton wasn’t surprised by Tourbillon Prince’s fighting triumph in the Class Three Eagle’s Nest Handicap (1,400m), with the Benno Yung Tin-pang-trained gelding sneaking under the radar of punters despite coming off a last-start victory at $33.

Purton fired the six-year-old across from barrier 13 to park outside the leader, Charming Legend, and he lifted late to prevail in an epic four-way finish.

Storm Rider was a head behind in second, narrowly ahead of the heavily-backed $1.9 favourite Markwin, who loomed ominously down the outside but had to settle for third. Charming Legend was also close behind in fourth.

“It was a good, tough win by a horse that’s come back from surgery,” Purton said of Tourbillon Prince, who had tieback surgery to correct a breathing issue in July.

“It’s nice to get another winner for Benno. He won well last time. Obviously it was a stronger race this time, he drew wide and had to carry weight [135 pounds]. He’s a little bit more seasoned than those younger horses and that showed in the finish.”

Earlier, Purton teamed up with John Size to notch a race-to-race double on Endeared in the second section of the Class Four Lung Fu Shan Handicap (1,400m) and Masterofmyuniverse in the Class Four Ho Chung Handicap (1,200m).

Size had just five wins after the first 27 meetings this season – a slow start even by his standards – but the 12-time champion trainer is back on track, having added 10 victories in the past five meetings.

“It can be a little bit frustrating, you’ve sort of got to fight your way through the beginning of the season waiting for him to come online, but when he comes online, he goes bang, bang, bang,” Purton said. “It’s nice that his horses are now starting to show us what they’re made of.”

Endeared racked up his second Hong Kong win with a dominant two-length triumph as the $2.7 favourite, while three-year-old Masterofmyuniverse impressed when storming home from well back to break through at start three, scoring by two-and-a-quarter lengths as a $3 chance.