It’s been a big couple of weeks for Francis Lui Kin-wai and the stable’s incredible form continued at Sha Tin on Sunday, with the veteran trainer bagging both Class Twos and unveiling a smart debutant.

Lui, who celebrated his 1,000th Hong Kong win last week and 67th birthday on Thursday, backed up his Sha Tin treble seven days earlier to make it eight winners from the past four meetings.

Winning Wing and Invincible Shield struck in the two strongest races on the Group One undercard, while Gold Patch backed up his outstanding trial form to narrowly score on debut.

Winning Wing’s victory in the Class Two Ambitious Dragon Handicap (2,000m) wasn’t without drama, however, as the progressive stayer had to survive an objection from runner-up Prestige Good.

The $2.9 favourite Prestige Good set out to make all under Richard Kingscote but Winning Wing – who is often held up in a long last – settled much closer than usual to sit fourth and a few lengths off the pace.

Travelling up to the leaders’ back on the turn, jockey Dylan Mo Hin-tung loomed on the Winning Wing and the writing looked to be in the wall, but he was inclined to lug right into Prestige Good in the straight and hampered that rival for several strides in the final 200m before finally getting on top.

Winning Wing ultimately prevailed by a short head and after a lengthy stewards’ inquiry, the objection was overruled – much to the frustration of a crowd who were hoping for a sustained verdict.

The victory was well earned for a delighted Mo, however, who punched the air as the pair walked back into the winner’s enclosure.

“You can see how he fought with the other horse. Of course, they did touch and they [the stewards] said the margin was a bit short, but I said because the jockey tried to correct him the margin has become shorter than it should have,” Lui said.

“He’s got such a good fighting heart. Where he goes next depends on the programme, I’m not going to push him into Group racing; we’re taking things step by step.

“Dylan has taken care of him so many times and he should know him very well. The owner loves to give him a chance and I won’t ever have an objection.”

Invincible Shield capitalised on a dream run along the inside rail from gate one to prevail in the Class Two Able Friend Handicap (1,200m).

Travelling smoothly in the box seat under Vincent Ho Chak-yiu, the Australian import kept on strongly to score by a short head from Young Champion, who almost pulled off a stunning plunge after being brown-lamped from $50 to $20.

“It was a nice win. I think 1,200m is his best,” Lui said after Invincible Shield notched his fourth local victory.

“He would need to improve to go to the next level.”

Gold Patch started Lui’s big day in the opener, the Class Four Peniaphobia Handicap (1,000m), when he narrowly beat Sparkling Fellow under James McDonald.

“He’s a nice horse. You can see he has a big, smooth stride,” Lui said of the three-year-old, who was unbeaten from three trials heading into his first race start.

“He’s still a baby – even the jockey came back and said that. [McDonald] said he’s a good horse and he liked him a lot.”

Brown-lamped Buddy strikes

Brett Crawford added to his impressive haul of stable transfer winners when the heavily-backed Island Buddy struck in the second section of the Class Four Mr Vitality Handicap (1,200m).

Brown-lamped from $30 to $9.55, the Brave Smash gelding made a perfect stable debut for Crawford when he led all the way under Karis Teetan.

He hung on late to deny the $2.3 favourite Packing Glory by a short head, breaking through at start 11 after only managing one placing at Happy Valley for former trainer Cody Mo Wai-kit.

“We didn’t trial him but we gave him some grass gallops, which I thought were good enough for him and today, when he broke so well and he got in a good position early, then I thought we had a chance,” Crawford said after moving to 13 wins on his first Hong Kong season.

“The public know more than me because it went brown and I was like ‘oh, OK’. To be fair, he was really going good at home – his grass gallops were good and everything was good – but if you asked me if I thought he could win today, I told the owner if he ran three lengths off them, I’d be really happy as a sign of improvement [to come].”