Zac Purton and James McDonald may be leaving Hong Kong for different reasons, but the superstar riders ensured they will be jetting off on the same high note after collecting New Year’s Day trebles at Sha Tin.

Purton, who is set to miss three meetings while he takes a family holiday, reached 50 wins for the 14th consecutive campaign thanks to the victories of Storm Rider, Fire Ball and Endeared.

“It was a nice day,” Purton said after extending his lead in the jockeys’ championship to 17. “The horses that won did a good job and the horses that just got beat also ran well.”

“I’m going to be busy, so I don’t know how much resting I will be doing. It will be nice [to have some time off]. It’s something different, but I’ll freshen up and come back.”

The six-time champion jockey got off the mark for 2024 when the David Hayes-trained Storm Rider went one better than his debut effort last month to record an impressive two-and-three-quarter-length victory in the second section of the Class Four Flame Tree Handicap (1,200m).

“He’s come out of a strong race on international day, so I expected him to be pretty hard to beat,” Purton said.

Urged forward from midfield by Purton, Storm Rider took the lead 150m out and powered clear to provide Hayes with the first leg of a double.

“I think he’s going to have a really good future. His first run was excellent and he’s improved a lot since then,” Hayes said. “He was a David Price horse and was trained by my sons [Ben, Will & JD]. They called me and said ‘Get an owner for this horse urgently’. Luckily, we knew someone who was looking for one at the time.”

Purton notched his second success of the afternoon when he superbly negotiated barrier 14 aboard Fire Ball in the Class Five Willow Handicap (1,400m) before completing his three-timer with the John Size-trained Endeared in the first section of the Class Four Poplar Handicap (1,400m).

A three-time placegetter from 10 Hong Kong starts, Endeared made amends for his runner-up effort over the same course and distance last month.

“He’s been a little bit frustrating. He’s run a lot of good races and hasn’t been able to win,” Purton said. “He jumped really well today and I took advantage of that to get into a nice spot. I think that was the difference.”

On a day where two of the world’s best riders traded blows, McDonald opened his account at the final meeting of his short-term contract when the Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained C P Brave claimed his second consecutive Sha Tin win in the Class Three Cotton Tree Handicap (1,800m).

After the seven-year-old gelding’s triumph, Yiu confirmed McDonald will be back to partner Voyage Bubble in the Group One Stewards’ Cup (1,600m) on January 21.

“James is coming back for Voyage Bubble and on the same day, there is a 2,000m race for C P Brave. He was good today and it will be interesting to see how he performs in Class Two next time.”

McDonald then saluted on another exciting Hayes-trained galloper, with Global Harmony swooping down the outside to claim the first section of the Class Three Chinese Banyan Handicap (1,400m).

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“He’s a proper horse and that was very promising,” Hayes said. “He had to go back to last and I was a bit scared at one stage. When he came to the outside he looked like a really good horse. He’s got electrifying speed from the 400m.”

After beginning his five-and-a-half-week stay in Hong Kong with a win aboard Wunderbar, McDonald finished it in the same fashion when the three-year-old got the better of Purton and Hayes’ Ka Ying Rising in a ding-dong battle in the Class Three Cherry Handicap (1,200m).