Zac Purton quickly turned his 500th Hong Kong win into the first leg of a treble at an all-dirt meeting where the only thing running hotter than the Australian jockey was the track itself as course records tumbled at Sha Tin.
Purton brought up his milestone on David Hall's Yee Cheong Star, before bookending his three-timer with victory on Tony Millard's Hit The Bid, but it was Gun Pit's gritty effort in course record time in the middle for which the Australian rider had to work hardest.
Gun Pit's narrow, come-from-behind win in 1.37.39s for the 1,650m was one of three course records broken at the all-dirt meeting, with the 1,200m and 1,800m marks also lowered as class records were broken in five of the eight races on the all-weather track.
Trainer Caspar Fownes revealed he had actually pushed for a place in Saturday's Group Two Godolphin Mile at the Dubai World Cup meeting with Gun Pit, who has now won five from five on the surface.
"I wanted to go to Dubai with him this year, we did our best to get him in, but he just didn't have the rating," said Fownes, who will consider setting his four-year-old for the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland later this year.
"If there had been some more races there for him, we wouldn't have run him in the Derby and maybe we could have got his rating to where it needed to be.
"He is a very talented horse and his best is clearly on the dirt, but it looks like we will have to go overseas with him to find a suitable race.
"His rating will be up near 105 now and, hopefully, there will be something for him in the schedule towards the end of the season."
Dehere's The Love streeted rivals to make it back-to-back wins on the surface as he ran a sizzling 1.07.40s and took six-hundredths of a second off Lord Sinclair's previous best that was set last season.
A three-length-winning margin will put Dehere's The Love's rating well into the 90s and trainer John Size joked with jockey Joao Moreira post-race: "You might as well take him with you to Dubai tomorrow because there isn't much left for him here."
The win took Moreira a step closer to 100 wins, with the Brazilian now just six short of a remarkable century with more than three months of the season remaining.
Even the once-derided dirt tracker Verdane (former 13-time Hong Kong champion Douglas Whyte) got in on the record-breaking action as John Moore's five-year-old won his fourth race for the term and set a new best for 1,800m of 1.47.53s.
Earlier, Brett Prebble was able to make up for a bungled start by Buddy Buddies as he swooped home in a Class Four, winning trainer Michael Chang Chun-wai admitting he had actually preferred stablemate Prince Of Sunshine's chances. "I love these dirt meetings," Chang said after his ninth winner of the term.
"This horse really needed that drop in grade.
"I was pretty worried when he was slow away as it looked like the track was very leader-biased in the first few races."
Andreas Schutz got a much-needed win in the opening event when Trillion Treasure (Nash Rawiller) won a Class Five and gave the trainer seven victories for the term so far.
And jockey Derek Leung Ka-chun continued his recent run of form when Jolly Good Star broke his maiden in race two.
