Andrea Atzeni claimed a personal best of the season in Hong Kong when she fired Sha Tin twice on Saturday, highlighted by Colorful King’s emphatic victory in the Grade One Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup (1,000m).
Atzeni made it 60 wins for the campaign, surpassing his best total of 58 from last term, and strengthened his bid for second place in the jockeys’ championship when he guided Mwalimu Lucky and the John Size-trained King of Color to victory.
With five races remaining this season, the Sardinian jockey is one win clear of Hugh Bowman for second place, while Zac Purton leads the standings with 134 wins unbeaten.
“Reaching 60 wins was the goal; I thought it was a good number and we got there today and we have a few meetings left, so I can’t complain,” Atzeni said.
Master Lucky produced a hard-paced performance to claim the Grade Four Sha Tau Kok River Handicap (1,400m) before Colorful King struck in the next race.
After leveling the midfield, the David Eustace-trained jockey launched a strong run and hit the front 100 meters out to beat Magic Control by three-quarters of a length, with Bottomuptogether in third.
“It was good to have him back, I rode him in his early days and I kind of missed him earlier in the season. He did really well tonight,” Atzeni said.
Colorful King enjoyed his return to the 1,000m straight at Sha Tin, where he claimed his only other win of the season to finish second to Stellar Express in the Group Three Bauhinia Sprint Trophy.
“There was a little bit of me that would have put him away after his last run, but obviously this race was too tough, so he trained well at Conghua and hasn’t done much since he ran at Happy Valley,” Eustace said.
“We’ve had a frustrating run of near misses and disappointments, I think at Valley, but he’s a great horse down here. But there hasn’t been any racing for him for a while. Obviously this race was good and he was underweight – he didn’t have to carry a lot of weight which is very important too.”
The owners of Eustace and Colorful King have raised the possibility of placing Australian imports for Royal Ascot features in the future.
“It’s been talked about when he won at Zac (Purton) and then came second in a Group Three, Zac said ‘that’s the race that Little Bridge won and then they went to Ascot’, so it’s a possibility, but it’s a long way off,” Eustace added.
Karis Teetan won the ride’s prize on Saturday with three straight wins, returning the Ka Ying-trained David Hayes’ Endurance before teaming up with trainer Brett Crawford to win in a thrilling Mr Incredible and three-year-old Sovereign Fund.
Mr Incredible improved his impressive record to three wins from four starts with a big win as favorite in the Grade Three Shek Sheung River Handicap (1,200m).
“He’s a lovely horse, we always thought he was a good horse and every time he’s gone to the races, he’s shown it and today was a big job,” Teetan said.
Crawford said Mr Incredible will focus on the four-year series next season.
“There aren’t many three-year-olds who win in a Grade Three like that, so he’s an exciting horse for next season and hopefully he’ll go further, which he looks like he can,” Crawford said.
It was a mixed night for Crawford’s winners in terms of price, with Sovereign Fund’s win coming in at $51.85, against Mr Incredible’s starting price of $1.25.
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