It is a case of 101 down and plenty more to come for Alexis Badel after the French jockey notched a century of winners in Hong Kong on Wednesday night.

After spending his winters in the city over the previous four seasons, the 31-year-old made the full-time move at the start of 2020-21 and has immediately established himself among the elite.

His victory aboard Manfred Man Ka-leung’s Magic Supreme was the one that secured the milestone, but he made it 101 the very next race when the Francis Lui Kin-wai-trained Sunset Watch came from last to dead-heat with Lucky Fun (Zac Purton), from the Danny Shum Chap-shing stable.

Badel now has 44 victories for the campaign, placing him fourth in the jockeys’ championship behind only Joao Moreira, Purton and Karis Teetan.

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While acknowledging the achievement, Badel remains hungry for more success and won’t be resting on his laurels.

“It’s a nice feeling but I’m looking for [the next one] now,” Badel said. “It’s a nice feeling to get winners in Hong Kong, everyone knows that.

“You have to fight hard, it’s very competitive. It means a lot and I’m glad for the support I’ve had so far and hopefully there are going to be better times to come.”

The jockey Badel dead-heated with, Purton, also enjoyed a big night at Sha Tin’s all-dirt meeting, going home with a quartet.

In addition to Lucky Fun, the Australian also saluted with Paul O’Sullivan’s Fairy Floss, Chris So Wai-yin-trained veteran Hang’s Decision and then captured the last race with Glorious Artist, from the Frankie Lor Fu-chuen stable.

The latter fought hard to hold off a brave Preciousship in the Class Two Cuckoo Handicap (1,650m), justifying Purton’s decision to opt for Glorious Artist over stablemate Kings Shield, who finished fifth.

Fairy Floss dead-heated with Dragon Commander two starts back, but he got the winner’s circle all to himself on this occasion, running over the top of that same opponent to prevail by a half-length in the Class Five Tropicbird Handicap (1,800m).

Hang’s Decision notched the 10th victory of his career at start 80, a journey that has spanned across seven seasons – the nine-year-old has been a wonderful horse for his owners, collecting just over HK$10 million in prize money.

At the other end of the scale, Happy Tango has been knocking on the door for the better part of two seasons but finally snared his first win after a tough effort in the first section of the Class Four Robin Handicap (1,200m).

Assisted by Moreira, the Me Tsui Yu-sak trained five-year-old led all the way to hold off the fast-finishing Seven Heavens on the line.

“They’ve gone very fast in that second sectional – 21.97 [seconds] – and the horse outside him [Striking Mr C] dropped off but he kept going, so it was a big effort,” Tsui said. “I think he can win again, either at Happy Valley or on the dirt again, it doesn’t matter.”

After breaking his Hong Kong maiden last week, Ruan Maia seemingly can’t stop riding winners.

The Brazilian has now tasted success at each of the past three meetings, with the Michael Chang Chun-wai-trained Gallant Legacy the latest in the third section of the Class Four Robin Handicap (1,200m).

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It was a smart ride from Maia, who made full use of barrier one, holding his position on the inside and not allowing anyone else to cross before railing through and running away with the race.

But the night did end on a sour note for the two-time champion jockey of Macau, hit with a two-meeting suspension for his ride on Villa Fionn.

Other winners on the night included Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s smart four-year-old All For St Paul’s (Matthew Poon Ming-fai), who recorded his fourth win of the campaign, and Tony Millard’s Little Thunder (Teetan), who proved too strong in the opener.