Latest news with #Champions&ChaterCup
New Paper
19-05-2025
- Sport
- New Paper
Atzeni bidding for first HK G1 atop Bundle Award
HONG KONG Andrea Atzeni has clinched the HK$13 million (S$2.16 million) Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) ride on Group 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap (2,400m) winner Bundle Award. On May 25, Atzeni will chase his first Hong Kong Group 1 trophy on Bundle Award, who became the first runner from this season's Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) to win a Group 3 race in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup at Sha Tin on May 4 under Zac Purton. With seven-time champion jockey Purton likely to partner Ensued in the Champions & Chater Cup, Atzeni took the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Shamus Award four-year-old in a 1,200m dirt trial at Sha Tin on May 16. Pitted against fellow Champions & Chater Cup contenders - four-time Group 1 winner Voyage Bubble and 2025 Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat - Bundle Award was not pressured and finished seventh behind Cap Ferrat in 1min 11.44sec. "It's a good ride to get," said Atzeni. "He's a horse that stays the trip and he's young. He's done nothing wrong so far and it's a really good ride. "He's won over the mile and a half the last time. I know they didn't go really quick and it turned into a bit of a sprint. "But in these mile and a half races, they never go a gallop here anyway, so it could set up very similarly and he's a horse who has quite a bit of speed. "He stays but he's got quite a bit of pace. So, if it turns into a bit of a sprint like it did the last time, it will suit him." The 2025 Champions & Chater Cup features British globetrotter Dubai Honour, Cap Ferrat, Ensued, Five G Patch, La City Blanche, Moments In Time, Noisy Boy, Rubylot, Sword Point, Winning Dragon and Voyage Bubble. The latter is chasing a HK$10 million bonus as he attempts to sweep the Triple Crown series. Ensued finished fifth in the second batch of trials on May 16, behind the John Size-trained stablemate Super Express, who clocked 1min 11.01sec. Already a winner of the Group 1 Stewards' Cup (1,600m) and the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m), Voyage Bubble is bidding to join River Verdon (1993/94) to win all three legs of the Triple Crown series. "Voyage Bubble has got to step up in trip, which is obviously a question mark. But, with the class that he has, he probably doesn't need to stay to win it," said Atzeni. "Dubai Honour gets this trip very well and last time behind Via Sistina (in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2,000m at Randwick), although he had a bit of a tough trip, he never gave up and kept going all the way to the line. He's a very smart horse." Fresh from his 100th victory in Hong Kong after the Ricky Yiu-trained debutant Blazing Wukong ($25) won the Class 4 The Hilltop In The Valley Handicap (1,200m) on May 18, the Italian hoop now has 49 wins this season. He sits third on the Hong Kong jockeys' championship behind Purton (110) and Hugh Bowman (61). Matthew Poon leads the race for this season's Tony Cruz Award as leading homegrown jockey with 34 wins, seven clear of 2021/22 winner Matthew Chadwick and injured Vincent Ho (both on 27). Poon, 31, has been a revelation this campaign as he sweeps towards bettering his personal-best haul of 37 wins in a season, set in 2020/21. "Everybody will get a chance if they work hard. You just never give up, no matter how long it takes. You just have to be positive and you never know when the chance comes," said Poon. "You have to be ready and well prepared, wait for the opportunity to come and try to take it." Meanwhile, the heat is also on in the 2024/25 Hong Kong trainers' championship. David Hayes' treble at Sha Tin on May 18 saw the Australian move to within six wins of compatriot and 12-time champion John Size, with 16 meetings left in the season. Hayes dominated with the performances of Oriental Smoke ($15), Solid Shalaa ($38) and World Hero ($36) to reach 50 wins for the campaign, raising hopes of a third Hong Kong trainers' championship having earlier trailed Size by 11 wins. "John is hard to catch, being six ahead, but if he has a quiet couple of weeks and I have a good couple of weeks, it could get close," said Hayes. "There's a glimmer of hope. I've got a lot of young horses that are going to start running that are trialling well, but basically I have to keep going and John has to stop winning. "Every time John trains a winner, it's hard, but it's worth giving it a go." Hayes won the Hong Kong trainers' title in 1997/98 & 1998/99 and his three-timer on May 18 took his career tally in the city to 657. Oriental Smoke was the first to strike for Purton in the Class 4 Members' Care@HKJC Handicap (1,800m) before Solid Shalaa's scored in the Class 3 The Members Cup Handicap (1200m). Near the tail end at the home turn, Solid Shalaa closed in brilliantly under Ellis Wong to snatch victory late. World Hero was the third leg of Hayes' treble, dictating from the front under Alexis Badel to land the Class 4 Sha Tin Clubhouse Handicap (1,400m). HKJC
South China Morning Post
29-04-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
No Rebel's Romance but Stellenbosch among overseas Champions & Chater Cup entries
Voyage Bubble remains on track for the race but could face a stern challenge from the foreign contingent Rebel's Romance will not defend his Group One Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) crown but three overseas runners could provide a difficult challenge for the locals. Godolphin's star globetrotter left Five G Patch and La City Blanche trailing when hosing up in the race 12 months ago but there could still be British interest in the race thanks to Dubai Honour. William Haggas' three-time Australian Group One winner was last seen in Hong Kong finishing second to Giavellotto in the Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m), where he was ahead of another potential raider – Stellenbosch. Rebel's Romance is just too good! The boys in blue land the @StanChart Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin... 🏆 #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) May 26, 2024 That rival was the $3.2 favourite for the race and the Japanese filly will need to bounce back from a disappointing return in the Group One Osaka Hai (2,200m) at Hanshin. Should she return to the form of her win in the Group One Oka Sho (2,000m) or her second in the Group One Yushun Himba (2,400m), she would be very difficult to beat for trainer Sakae Kunieda. The fly in the ointment could be the Joseph O'Brien-trained Al Riffa, winner of the Group One Grosser Preis von Berlin (2,400m) and second to Epsom Derby winner City Of Troy in the Group One Eclipse Stakes (2,200m) at Sandown last year. He has done his fair share of travelling in his short career and is versatile to all surfaces, so would not mind if any rain came – as can be the case. Hong Kong's biggest hope is set to be Voyage Bubble, who is aiming to sweep the Hong Kong Triple Crown after wins in the Group One Stewards' Cup (1,600m) and the Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m) this season. He suffered a shock defeat in Sunday's Champions Mile at Sha Tin when unable to get past the gutsy Red Lion, who upstaged him at 89-1 odds for trainer John Size. The step up in distance raises question marks about Ricky Yiu Poon-fai's six-year-old, who is yet to go past the 2,000m distance in his career to date.
