Andrea Atzeni hopes to team up with three smart horses for the first time at Sha Tin on Sunday, including last season’s Champion Griffin Sky Jewelery in the Grade Two Members’ Cup (1,600m).
A three-time winner in five starts last season, sensational runner John Size was unable to make it to the field in a bid to return late last year after bleeding in a November block test.
He certainly made up for lost time on his return to racing, however, when he lifted off the pace to win in Grade Three company over 1,400 meters under Hugh Bowman.
Sky Jewelery now enters Class Two company for the first time, but that doesn’t faze his new rider Atzeni too much, especially with the extra field promising to suit him.
“It’s a good ride, he was obviously a very promising horse last season. He only ran five times, winning three of them, and he looked like a four-year streak before he failed,” Atzeni said.
“He came back this season and won in impressive fashion. It was a good workout and he’s obviously a good horse.
“He steps up and takes on top horses, but to do what he did coming back, at top weight in a race like that, it takes a good horse to do that.
“Stepping up to a mile won’t be an issue and he’s a great ride to get. It’s a competitive field and I’m looking forward to riding him.”
Atzeni will also get Almighty Lightning’s first win in the Grade Three Beijing Clubhouse Handicap (1,200m).
A winner on debut over a 1,000m trip for trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung, he was unabashed when he dropped a heavyweight length over the same distance last time.
Stretching the distance is not a concern in Atzeni’s eyes and despite being dismissed in a very tough race, he hopes the lighter weight and a good draw in two hurdles can see him through.
“He’s only a three-year-old and he won over 1,000 meters for the first time and he only won over 1,000 meters at top weight on his debut,” Atzeni said. “He’s picking up speed in the trip but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.
“It’s a very competitive race – you’ve got the likes of Smart Golf and My Mars who won for the first time in Hong Kong, which is not easy to do. Crossborderpegasus is quite capable, but he’s also tricky.
“It’s a very competitive race, but hopefully with a good gate and light weight, we can run a good race.”
Baby Sakura, the first winner for trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai, is another exciting ride for Atzeni to clinch the Grade Three Shenzhen Center Handicap (1,400m).
He has finished second in the next two races, but has yet to be exposed as a lightly raced three-year-old and Atzeni thinks the promotion will be a help rather than a hindrance.
“I ran him the other day in the morning – he is still a bit immature, obviously, as he is a three-year-old,” Atzeni said. “He won his first start and is going up in distance, which I think will suit him.
“He’s stepped up at lightweight, but he’s got enough potential. It feels like he just needs to put it all together; physically he’s there, but mentally he’s a little immature, but the potential is there.”
Atzeni will also need to be on his A-game when he partners Enthusium in the Grade Three Conghua Handicap (2,000m).
Another for Size, he impressed the stewards on his third start in Hong Kong when he tried to ‘destroy’ Power Force in the final 200m.
A winner in England before being imported, there is clearly plenty of potential under the bonnet, despite his performance, and the trials to find on the trip will certainly help him.
“He’s not a bad horse, but you could see in his last race he tried to bite the horse next to him in the last 200 meters,” Atzeni said. “There’s a bit left in the tank – he’s a European type of horse.
“He seems to have gone to the Hong Kong style of running well and he has been bred well by Dubawi. I thought if he hadn’t gone to bite that horse, he would have been a good second. The further we went the better he got.
“We’re a good weight and I like him. If he doesn’t try to bite the other horses, hopefully we’ll have a good chance.”
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