Bearing down on 100 wins in Hong Kong, Andrea Atzeni has clinched the HK$13 million G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) ride on 25 May on G3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap (2400m) winner Bundle Award.
Atzeni will chase his first Hong Kong Group 1 trophy on Bundle Award, who became the first runner from this season’s BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) to win a Group 3 with success in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup at Sha Tin on 4 May under Zac Purton.
With seven-time champion jockey Purton likely to partner Ensued in the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, Atzeni took the opportunity to familiarise himself with the four-year-old in a 1200m dirt trial at Sha Tin this morning (Friday, 16 May).
Pitted against fellow Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup contenders – four-time Group 1 winner Voyage Bubble and 2025 BMW Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat – Bundle Award was not pressured to finish seventh behind Cap Ferrat in 1m 11.44s.
“It’s a good ride to get,” Atzeni said. “He’s a horse that stays the trip and he’s only 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 day. 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 similar 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 day it will suit him.”
The 2025 Standard Chartered 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, who is chasing a HK$10 million bonus as he attempts to sweep the Triple Crown series.
Ensued finished fifth in this morning’s second batch of trials behind John Size-trained stablemate Super Express, who clocked 1m 11.01s.
Already winner of the HK$13 million G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m), HK$13 million G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), Voyage Bubble is bidding to join River Verdon in 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,” Atzeni said.
“Dubai Honour gets this trip very well and last time behind Via Sistina (in the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2000m 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.”
Needing only one more win to reach 100 wins in Hong Kong, Atzeni has a full book of 10 rides at Sha Tin this Sunday (18 May). Third in the Hong Kong jockeys’ championship behind Purton (108) and Hugh Bowman (60), the Italian has 48 victories this season.
Fresh from a Wednesday night (14 May) double, 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 toward bettering his personal-best haul of 37 wins in a season, a mark 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,” Poon said.
“You have to be ready and well prepared and wait for the opportunity to come and try to take it.”
Poon has eight rides at Sha Tin this weekend, including Mr Energia for David Hall in the HK$1.86 million Class 3 The Members Cup Handicap (1200m, dirt).
Poon’s form has earned a ride in the A$1 million (approx. HK$5.025 million) G1 Doomben Cup (2000m) on Klondike for John O’Shea & Tom Charlton at Doomben Racecourse in Brisbane, Australia on 24 May.
“I was really surprised. I was very happy to get the opportunity because this is one of my career goals to ride in a Group 1 overseas so I’m really keen on this opportunity and I really appreciate the opportunity,” Poon said.
“I think this will be a really good experience to get rides, especially in a Group 1, in a different country.”
Sunday’s (18 May) 10-race Sha Tin card starts with the Class 5 Celebrating Timeless Tradition Handicap (1400m) at 1pm.
By Leo Schlink
