diff --git a/lightgbm_ray/sklearn.py b/lightgbm_ray/sklearn.py
index b58997c..8c21686 100644
--- a/lightgbm_ray/sklearn.py
+++ b/lightgbm_ray/sklearn.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 from lightgbm import LGBMModel, LGBMClassifier, LGBMRegressor  # LGBMRanker
 from lightgbm.basic import _choose_param_value, _ConfigAliases
 from xgboost_ray.sklearn import (_wrap_evaluation_matrices,
-                                 _check_if_params_are_ray_dmatrix)
+                                 _check_if_params_are_ray_dmatrix, RayXGBMixin)
 from lightgbm_ray.main import train, predict, RayDMatrix, RayParams
 
 import warnings
@@ -83,7 +83,14 @@ def _treat_method_doc(doc: str, insert_before: str) -> str:
     return doc
 
 
-class _RayLGBMModel:
+class _RayLGBMModel(RayXGBMixin):
+    def _ray_get_wrap_evaluation_matrices_compat_kwargs(
+            self, label_transform=None) -> dict:
+        self.enable_categorical = False
+        self.feature_types = None
+        return super()._ray_get_wrap_evaluation_matrices_compat_kwargs(
+            label_transform=label_transform)
+
     def _ray_set_ray_params_n_jobs(
             self, ray_params: Optional[Union[RayParams, dict]],
             n_jobs: Optional[int]) -> RayParams:
@@ -133,7 +140,7 @@ def _ray_fit(self,
             eval_init_score)
 
         if train_dmatrix is None:
-            wrap_evaluation_matrices_kwargs = dict(
+            train_dmatrix, evals = _wrap_evaluation_matrices(
                 missing=None,
                 X=X,
                 y=y,
@@ -150,18 +157,9 @@ def _ray_fit(self,
                 # changed in xgboost-ray:
                 create_dmatrix=lambda **kwargs: RayDMatrix(**{
                     **kwargs,
-                    **ray_dmatrix_params
-                }))
-            try:
-                train_dmatrix, evals = _wrap_evaluation_matrices(
-                    **wrap_evaluation_matrices_kwargs)
-            except TypeError as e:
-                if "enable_categorical" in str(e):
-                    train_dmatrix, evals = _wrap_evaluation_matrices(
-                        **wrap_evaluation_matrices_kwargs,
-                        enable_categorical=False)
-                else:
-                    raise e
+                    **ray_dmatrix_params,
+                }),
+                **self._ray_get_wrap_evaluation_matrices_compat_kwargs())
 
         eval_names = eval_names or []
 
diff --git a/requirements-test.txt b/requirements-test.txt
index 9f924a4..e33dc7c 100644
--- a/requirements-test.txt
+++ b/requirements-test.txt
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ yapf==0.23.0
 petastorm
 pytest
 pyarrow
-ray[tune]
+ray[tune, data]
 scikit-learn
 modin
 git+https://github.com/ray-project/xgboost_ray.git
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ parameterized
 packaging
 
 # workaround for now
+protobuf<4.0.0
 tensorboardX==2.2