Luke Ferraris’ hot start to the season continued as he swept the first three races on the Sha Tin card on Saturday to leapfrog into fourth in the jockeys’ premiership race.

It was a third race day treble for the South African, who got his day off to the perfect start when Yoda’s Choice went from pillar to post in the Class Five Tung Chung Handicap (1,650m) on the dirt.

That would be a theme of the day for Ferraris, who controlled the pace to a tee from stall one and never looked in any real danger as the efforts of Night Purosangue and $2 favourite Viva Chaleur petered out shortly after they reached his tail.

“Yoda’s Choice is a typical dirt horse who likes to go to the front and he’s most effective when he can cruise along without any pressure and go through his gears,” said Ferraris.

The 23-year-old is becoming known for his partnership with trainer David Hayes and the pair teamed up for the next two winners on the card, firstly with $37 roughie Decrelot in the Class Five Nam Sang Wai Handicap (1,400m).

Always well positioned one-out and one-back, Ferraris took the lead at the 300m pole and had enough in reserve to fend off Circuit Fiery by a short head.

“Decrelot has not been the easiest horse, he put it all together today but there’s been a lot of times when he has not and hopefully he can go on from here,” Ferraris said.

And just 30 minutes later, Ferraris would snag his fourth win on the tough-as-teak Precision Goal in the Class Four Sai Kung Handicap (1,650m) on dirt.

Drawn in stall 11, Ferraris slowly made his way over to the lead in the short run to the first bend and once the pair hit the lead, the writing was quickly on the wall.

Precision Goal gave a strong kick off the bend and despite paddling slightly in the final 100m, he had plenty in reserve to fend off Luck Is Back by a head – a margin that did not tell the full story.

“Precision Goal is a lovely horse – he’s been such a soldier,” added Ferraris.

“David Hayes does such a phenomenal job with these older gallopers and it’s quite an art with these old campaigners to keep them happy and winning, which David has.

“Credit to David and his team. I think I’ve won four races on Precision Goal now and it’s a lovely way to start the day with three wins.”

Yoda’s Choice’s win in the opener was also poignant for his trainer Pierre Ng Pang-chi, who got off the mark for the campaign as a result.

Renowned for his fast starts to his campaigns, Pierre Ng Pang-chi is banking on a change of philosophy to prevent a repeat of his stable’s drop in form from the second half of last season.

While he has raced to the trainers’ championship lead early on in the past two seasons, Ng was one of only two handlers to remain winless to start this term until his breakthrough success on Saturday.

“It was maybe a couple of meetings late, but we expected to be a bit late this season,” Ng said.

“We gave the horses a longer break from last season, so they’ll probably need a bit more time or more warm-up runs to get them really fit. We’ve tried that to see if we can go longer into the season.”