Irishman Colm O'Donoghue has had the typically tough initiation to Hong Kong racing, but broke his local maiden with an upset in the opening event - his "new jockey" status granting him the ride.
O'Donoghue vowed to "keep fighting" after an all-the-way victory on the David Hall-trained Tres Magnifique snapped a 30-ride winless sequence to open the term.
"I've ridden in a lot of places around the world and sometimes that first winner doesn't come easily, but I like a challenge and you have to keep fighting," O'Donoghue said.
"I've appreciated the support I've got so far from the trainers and David sent me out there with some confidence today."
"I'm happy for Colm," Hall said. "He hasn't had many opportunities and the ones that he has had, he had some pretty nasty draws."
Hall said he booked O'Donoghue for Tres Magnifique's first-up run this season because the jockey didn't have any pre-conceived ideas about the horse - an unsound, one-paced stayer who had managed just two from 25 prior to yesterday.
"I think plenty of jockeys who know his history are not going to have too much confidence about him, so I thought a new guy might have some more belief in the horse.
"Colm was always positive about his trackwork all the way through," Hall said.
That "clean slate" perspective would have been challenged somewhat when the six-year-old didn't stretch out and was beaten more than 10 lengths into last at the first Happy Valley meeting of the season.
"The horse has been unsound and the track was pretty firm there," Hall said.
"I was just hoping the track here had a bit more grass cover on it. He was able to get to the front today and find his rhythm and he kept on galloping."
"The stewards asked the question about the turn around and it is pretty hard to explain, but last time he didn't want to chase," Hall said after the gelding was sent around an unwanted 27-1 shot.
"Those sorts of horses, that aren't the soundest, they need to get comfortable and then sometimes they can give you a kick - today he just got into a rhythm."
With a glut of all-weather track racing coming up at the end of this term, Hall is hoping the son of Choisir can perform on the surface to give him more options. "Hopefully we can keep him comfortable enough and find something longer for him.
"Or maybe now is the time to try him on the dirt for the first time," he said.
Wins with Tres Magnifique and Great Pegasus lifted Hall off the bottom of the table, and a double to Tony Millard left rookie Benno Yung Tin-pang, along with Sean Woods and Paul O'Sullivan, as the only three trainers without a winner.
