Apprentice Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu celebrated her first Happy Valley win on Wednesday night as trainers David Eustace and David Hall and jockeys Jerry Chau Chun-lok and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu fired in doubles.

At her third meeting at the city circuit, Yuen was over the moon after lifting Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s Prestige Always to victory in the second section of the Class Three Mount Butler Handicap (1,200m).

Despite being trapped three wide for the first half of the race, Prestige Always raced to the lead early in the straight and kept on gamely under Yuen to beat the fast-finishing Daryl Flash by half a length.

“It was a big thrill – I can’t believe it, to be honest,” Yuen said.

“It’s a much different vibe to Sha Tin – you high-five the crowd coming back in and it’s so fun. The vibe, the crowd, surrounded by buildings in the beautiful city – it’s really nice to have a winner here.

“I do feel like having a winner here is harder than it is at Sha Tin and unfortunately, most of the rides here I’ve had got wide draws. That makes things challenging and even today, the winner I had was drawn nine.

“It’s been a journey, a really long journey, but I’m really glad to have a milestone like today. I’ve got my first Happy Valley winner so hopefully the ball will keep rolling. I’ve only got three winners until my 7lb claim but hopefully I can keep getting more winners.”

Yuen, 26, made a bright start to her Hong Kong career with 14 wins at the back end of last season and now sits on three wins this term.

Elsewhere on the Valley card, Eustace and Chau continued their promising partnership when teaming up to win two of the opening three races courtesy of Red Brick Warrior and Akermanis Gold.

Red Brick Warrior broke through for his first victory at start 10, leading all the way to score narrowly in the Class Five Nam Fung Handicap (1,650m).

“He’s been slow away in most of his races, but we’ve done a lot of work at home to get him to jump, so I’m grateful for the stalls’ team to persevere and when he jumped well, we were keen to be positive,” Eustace said.

“I think he’s capable of being competitive in Class Four – we’ve always felt that and he’s shown that previously too.”

Akermanis Gold, a Doomben winner at his only Australian start pre-import, also made an impressive seasonal return to notch his first local triumph in the first section of the Class Four Wong Chuk Hang Handicap (1,650m).

Despite being crowded and checked in the early stages of the race, Akermanis Gold ran on powerfully from midfield under Chau to comfortably account for Shooting To Top by a length.

Chau, last season’s Tony Cruz Award winner as the leading local rider, was thrilled to open his winning account for the campaign and combine with Eustace.

“It’s a very good night. We had some good draws, everything went smoothly with the first two rides, so I am very happy to win for David,” Chau said.

“He’s given me a lot of support. It’s always exciting to have the first wins of the season.”

Hall scored a brace of his own when Bits Superstar bolted in by two lengths under Zac Purton in the first section of the Class Four Deep Water Bay Handicap (1,200m), before Brownneedsfurther stormed home under Brenton Avdulla to claim the second section of the Deep Water Bay Handicap.

Brownneedsfurther made it back-to-back victories when he rocketed late to nail the raging $1.7 favourite Cloud Nine by a short head.

“It was good for him to have a break and a freshen up [in the off-season] and he’s come back looking very well, but I think mentally he’s come back a bit better also,” Hall said.

“So, hopefully he can keep progressing and we might be able to see him over 1,400m or even 1,650m yet – we’ll experiment a bit more with that as the season goes on.”

Ho bagged a double aboard Jumbo Blessing, who completed a hat-trick with a scintillating win in the Class Four Island Handicap (1,000m), and Cody Mo Wai-kit’s Fortunate Son in the Class Three Tai Hang Handicap (1,800m).

“Off a win like that, you would suspect him to run close in Class Three,” trainer Caspar Fownes’ son Ronan said of Jumbo Blessing.

“He’s just starting to gain his momentum and understand his racing.”