Andrea Atzeni continues to make himself noticed on Hong Kong’s biggest racedays.

A double at Sha Tin on Sunday ensured Atzeni moved to 29 victories for the campaign and leapfrogged Angus Chung Yik-lai into the top four in the jockeys’ championship, with only Zac Purton, Karis Teetan and Hugh Bowman visiting the winner’s enclosure more this season.

And it was easy to see why Atzeni finds himself in such company after he produced a superb ride to win the Class Two Citi Private Bank Handicap (1,600m) on Super Sunny Sing.

After missing the break by a couple of lengths, Atzeni may have been thankful the race featured the smallest field of the afternoon as he worked back into the contest and remained calm to find a gap in the straight, which his willing mount shot through to win by half a length.

“When Chris [So Wai-yin] asked me to ride the horse a couple of weeks back, I thought it looked like a perfect race – back down to a mile and Class Two level,” Atzeni said.

“He looked good early in the season and things haven’t gone his way with draws and things like that.

“In the small field today, he relaxed in behind them and he’s got a good turn of foot [now], like he had earlier in the season. I was very confident, to be fair.”

So was delighted his runner had regained the winning thread after a couple of disappointing efforts.

“It’s a bit of a relief,” So said. “Since his win in October he’s struggled a bit, but if you watch every race after that, he’s been drawn wide or there’s been a slow pace and it just hasn’t suited him.

“Today I think the small field suited. He was more comfortable to find some room and he hit the line strong. The horse is very honest over 1,600m and in the future maybe he can run over 1,800m again.”

Atzeni, who also finished third aboard Nimble Nimbus in the Group One Gold Cup (2,000m), picked up his second winner on the card with the David Hall-trained Champion Instinct in the Class Four Citigold Handicap (1,200m).

The four-year-old has frustrated Hall since finishing second on his debut nearly a year ago but seems to have struck up a good partnership since Atzeni took over the ride from Alexis Badel, with the pair winning their past two races.

“He ran second in his first race and then he just lost his way a little bit,” Hall said. “He was a bit uncoordinated and couldn’t get his balance right, but he’s over all that now.

“He was pretty impressive with his last win and he’s followed it up today. He’s really in the zone now.

“I think he’ll get another go in Class Four, so he’s capable of getting another win.

“The way he’s going he should be capable in Class Three. As I said, he’s just matured and it’s just taken him a while to adapt to Hong Kong. He’s shown what he can really do and, hopefully, there’s a bit more in store for him.”