Andrea Atzeni is focusing on quality over quantity when he rides four strong chances at Happy Valley on Wednesday, including Awesome Fluke in the feature Class 2 Magazine Gap Handicap over 1800m.
Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s galloper is a staying specialist at Happy Valley, winning a pair of 2000m races at the venue in May and June 2024, before adding to his tally with an 1800m success on his second start this season.
He showed he was not short of speed, however, when smashing the track record with a dominant performance over the 1650m trip last start, defeating a reopposing Soleil Fighter by 0.50 lengths and Huge Wave, another of Wednesday’s rivals, by a further 1.75 lengths.
Awesome Fluke will face six rivals from barrier No 5 and Atzeni is confident he will be fighting out the finish once more back at the longer trip.
"He did a really good job the last day – obviously he was carrying a light weight and was stepping back in trip, but he had to do it tough,” said Atzeni.
“They went a really strong gallop the whole way and I took up the lead very early because I knew he stayed further; my chance was to really stretch them out and luckily it worked.
“The handicapper has put him up seven pounds, so he’s meeting some of these rivals on worse terms and for a small field it’s competitive. He’s got a great chance though despite that.”
Atzeni is also very strong on the chances of Refusetobeenglish, who is looking to shed his local maiden in the second section of the Class 3 Wan Chai Gap Handicap over 1200m.
A winner at Cranbourne in Australia pre-import, Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s son of Churchill has shown plenty of ability in the city, including a second to runaway winner Greater Bae two starts ago.
Most recently, he did well from a second consecutive wide barrier when coming from last to sixth in a leader-friendly race over course and distance, and Atzeni is hopeful today could be the day from barrier No 7.
“He deserves a win, doesn’t he? He’s not had much luck with draws; I did get a good gate on him three starts ago and he ran well to finish third, only beaten half a length,” said Atzeni.
“He’s drawn barrier No 7 here, which is OK – it’s not terrible but it’s not the best. Hopefully there’s a bit of pace in the race, which will make him comfortable, and he will hit the line well. He just needs a bit of luck in running.”
The Sardinian jockey will also pair up with Great Spirit in the Class Four Volunteers’ Challenge Cup (1200m) for trainer Dennis Yip Chor-hong, while his other ride on the night is Silo in the Class 3 Stubbs Handicap (1650m).
“Great Spirit is pretty consistent, he ran quite well last start as he was crowded a bit on the bend and that took him out of it for a few strides,” said Atzeni. “By the time he got out, the winner had gone, but he finished off well. He has a good gate and he deserves to win a race.
“I trailed Silo the other day and he went quite nicely – he’s a horse that has run well at both the Valley and Sha Tin. If the tempo is on and we get a smooth run, he should be competitive.” – South China Morning Post