CONFIDENCE counts for plenty in racing and two new faces in the jockeys' room will be looking forward to next Saturday's fixture with an extra skip in their step after claiming their first scalps at Happy Valley last night.
Richard Hughes and Robert Fradd gave their respective retaining trainers - Andy Leung Ting-wah and Ricky Poon-fai Yiu - that all-important first victory and in doing so settled the nerves which can hound newcomers.
The maiden success was especially sweet for Irishman Hughes who scored with his first ride for Leung when the promising Heavenly Wind upset favourite Calculation to take race two on the card, the Class Four Chongqing Handicap.
The Kildare-born 24-year-old couldn't contain his delight and greeted the judge with a celebratory wave of the whip at the end of the 1,000-metre dash.
An extraordinarily tall rider, Hughes arrived from England three weeks ago and says he is just starting to get a feel for the stable's strengths.
'Three weeks without racing has made me very keen. We thought that tonight's meeting would give us a guide to how we're going and a winner is just what we needed,' he said.
