He signed off in England with a winner for Marc Chan and Andrea Atzeni continued his strong start to 2024 with victory in the prominent Hong Kong owner’s colours at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Before making the move to Hong Kong for his first full season in the jurisdiction, Atzeni booted Chan’s Lezoo home in the Listed Hopeful Stakes (1,200m) at Newmarket on August 26.

On Sunday, Atzeni broke through aboard Chan’s Aoraki Summit at his fourth attempt in the Class Four Shek Yam Handicap (1,400m).

“My last ride in England before I came out was a winner for Marc. I won a Listed race on the filly for Ralph Beckett, Lezoo,” Atzeni said.

“It was great to win for Marc again, obviously he’s a big owner and he’s had a lot of success.”

On a day when it paid to be on speed for much of the card, Atzeni worked Aoraki Summit to the lead and the four-year-old sprinted home to win by three and a quarter lengths – the widest winning margin of the afternoon.

Successful in one of two starts for the Hayes family in Australia before Chan decided to bring him to Hong Kong, the Frankie Lor Fu-chuen-trained Aoraki Summit broke through at start five in the city after dropping from a rating of 64 to 59.

“Obviously today there was a big bias with the way the track was riding, but Aoraki Summit was impressive. He’s come down to Class Four, he’s just kept improving with racing and the way the track was riding suited him,” said Atzeni.

“I’ve always liked this horse but it just took him a bit of time to acclimatise and get used to the Hong Kong racing style.”

Atzeni completed a double aboard John Size’s Fast Buck in the Class Four Shek Lei Handicap (1,200m) and has tasted success at all three meetings in 2024.

“It was good. I thought I had good rides coming into the meeting but you never know,” said Atzeni after moving to 19 winners for the season and into sixth in the jockeys’ premiership.

“It’s going good. Winning on Taj Dragon [on New Year’s Day] was great, it’s nice to get a Group winner. I then had a nice win at Happy Valley on Thursday night [with Beauty Infinity]. It’s ticking away quite nicely, but it’s a long season and we’ve still got six months ahead.”

Ho recoups Capital

Capital Delight made his first solo trip to the winner’s circle of his Hong Kong career at Sha Tin on Sunday, taking out the Class Three Kwai Shing Handicap (1,200m) under Vincent Ho Chak-yiu.

If was fitting it was Ho taking the jockey’s share of the HK$1.04 million first prize, with his 10 per cent nearly covering the HK$120,000 fine he received for lacking vigour in the final stages of Capital Delight’s dead-heat for first with Lucky Archangel in October.

In a decision that shocked many, Ho was initially banned for 10 meetings after stewards decided he “failed to ride his mount out all the way to the end of the race” after putting his whip a way a stride or two before the line.

On appeal, that punishment was adjusted to eight meetings on the sidelines and the hefty fine.

Capital Delight did just enough to prevail on Sunday, with Caspar Fownes’ four-year-old coming from behind midfield to sail past his rivals on Sha Tin’s all-weather surface and salute by a head at $12.

“It doesn’t matter, Happy Valley 1,200m, Sha Tin dirt or Sha Tin grass 1,200m. He’s a nice horse who is slowly starting to improve,” Fownes said.

“Hopefully he can continue, he’s still got a way to go but he’s a good-looking horse, physically a very nice type, and it’s nice that they can handle different surfaces. It gives you some more options with them.”

Tsui breaks drought with Hollow victory

He shrugged off a lengthy drought at Sha Tin on Sunday but unfortunately for Me Tsui Yu-sak, Beat Hollow’s victory in the Class Five Wan Tsui Handicap (1,200m) on the dirt doesn’t help him in his fight to save his career.

After receiving strikes in the past two seasons for failing to meet the Jockey Club’s trainers’ benchmark, Tsui hasn’t exactly set the world on fire through the first 35 meetings of the 2023-24 campaign.

Winless from his past 48 runners in a dry spell dating back to November 15, Beat Hollow’s success moved Tsui to six wins for the campaign.

However, because he’s already used the two Class Five victories that count for benchmark purposes, he still requires 11 triumphs in Class Four or above to reach the 16 wins required to prolong his career.