Despite being less than halfway through the current season, Phillip Stokes is three wins shy of equalling last term's Adelaide trainers' premiership-winning tally.

Tony McEvoy prepared 34 winners to claim the 2012/13 Adelaide trainers' title but Stokes's treble at last Saturday's Morphettville meeting brought him to within three of that mark, despite seven months of the season still remaining.

Stokes's 31 winners have come at a strike rate of 35.6 percent which is more than double his 2012/13 strike rate.

The trainer attributed the marked improvement in his performance to having surrounded himself with better staff.

"I used to do a lot of the riding myself but I don't now, so the staff are probably the key investment," Stokes said.

"If you say you're not trying to improve, you're probably not doing your job.

"We have also just tinkered with a few things in the training of the horses and it's working really well.

"The horses are racing a lot more consistently, they are healthier and we have probably got a lot better stock in the stable that seem to hold their form."

Stokes won't get the chance to equal McEvoy's 2012/13 season total at Morphettville on Saturday when he will have just two runners across the eight races.

But he will also have a hand in the Moonee Valley program where Lucky Symbol has earned a start after stringing together four successive wins in Adelaide, while stablemate Eclair Choice will make his debut in the opening race following a recent barrier trial win.