David Eustace has high hopes a minor change to his early season approach will pay off when he takes a strong team of four to Happy Valley on Wednesday night.

The British trainer’s gallopers have generally improved with the benefit of a run or two in his first two Hong Kong seasons, but a deeper team of 69 horses this campaign has allowed Eustace to set his sights on more early success.

“For me, it’s still only my third season and getting that depth of horses throughout the whole season takes a bit of time,” Eustace said.

“I’ve got that little bit more depth this time around. I haven’t got loads of early runners, but instead of getting runs for grounding in Hong Kong, they’ve got that grounding and with a bit of luck, we can have a few more winners early on.

“I think we’ve got quite a nice team, so we’re hopeful we can build again on last season which we were able to do from season one to two.”

Eustace struck at the season opener at Sha Tin with Light Years Glory and is keen on adding to that tally with Silvery Breeze, Dazzling Fit and last-start winners Gratifide and Holmes A Court engaged at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.

The 35-year-old was dealt a mixed bag of barrier draws. Silvery Breeze, who tackles the feature Class Two Shek O Handicap (1,650m), and Gratifide copped wide gates in 12 and nine respectively, while Dazzling Fit and Holmes A Court fared much better in barriers one and five respectively.

Eustace will rely on champion jockey Zac Purton to weave his magic on Silvery Breeze, a three-time winner last term including twice at the course and distance of Wednesday night’s race.

“He’s going to need pace on. He’s got a long season in front of him and I’m sure we’ll just take our time from the gate,” Eustace said.

“He doesn’t like to be bustled up too much early on when drawn out wide, so hopefully they run along and he hits the line strongly.”

Dazzling Fit makes his Valley debut in the Class Three Chung Hom Kok Handicap (1,650m) after contesting the final two legs of last season’s Classic Series, finishing fifth in the Classic Cup (1,800m) and 10th in the Hong Kong Derby (2,000m).

“It’s his first look at the Valley and I think he’s a horse that will handle it well in time,” Eustace said of the three-time Sha Tin winner.

“He hasn’t run for a bit, so he’s naturally going to improve for the run but he’s had two nice trials, he’s forward enough and he’s drawn a good gate. So, I’d be hopeful of a good run if he handles the Valley first look at it.”

Gratifide improved with the addition of blinkers at the end of last campaign, notching an eye-catching third and tough victory at the Valley, and returns in the second section of the Class Four Lido Handicap (1,200m).

“He looks to have come on since last season. I was happy with his trial,” Eustace said.

“Frustrating barrier but we’ll see what the race shape is like. I think he’s certainly a horse that can hopefully take the next step forward off the back of his debut season.”

Holmes A Court led all the way on his stable debut for Eustace in June and will bid to repeat that performance in the first section of the Lido Handicap.

“He was able to control the race when he won and that seems to be how he enjoys his racing,” Eustace said.

“Brenton [Avdulla] has got a very good handle on him and hopefully he’s able to adopt similar tactics. He’s fit and well and we’re hopeful of a good run.”