19-05-2025
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
