No jockey in Hong Kong rode more winners in March than Andrea Atzeni, and the Italian ace is aiming to continue his sparkling form at Easter Monday’s (6 April) Group 2 double-header at Sha Tin in preparation for FWD Champions Day on 26 April.

Atzeni’s 14 winners last month boosted his tally to 43 – third in the 2025/26 jockeys’ championship behind leader Zac Purton (91 wins) and Hugh Bowman (44) – with earnings of HK$67.90 million from 388 rides after 58 of the season’s 88 fixtures.

Following mounts at Sha Tin tonight (Wednesday, 1 April), Atzeni will link with quality John Size duo, Red Lion and Stellar Express, in the HK$5.35 million G2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) and HK$5.35 million G2 Sprint Cup (1200m), respectively.

Red Lion is no stranger to reversing his form, and Atzeni hopes Hong Kong’s forecast of rain early next week assists the winner of the 2025 HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) as he aims to rebound following consecutive ninth placings.

Atzeni said: “It seems like he’s the type of horse who comes good at this time of the year, and also like he enjoys a bit of juice in the ground. I don’t know what it’s going to be like at this meeting coming up, but if there is rain, he enjoys getting his toe in.”

Red Lion shocked Voyage Bubble at odds of 89/1 in last year’s FWD Champions Mile, one of six career wins in Hong Kong for the Belardo gelding, who is raced by The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s former Chairman Ronald Arculli and his wife Johanna.

Atzeni, 35, is yet to ride Red Lion in a race but has trialled the Irish import twice since his last run, most recently on 26 March over 1200m on the dirt, finishing second to Romantic Warrior by one length after attempting to lead throughout in 1m 10.85s.

“I thought he trialled well. He jumped quickly and we kept it simple – John just wanted me to give him a good stretch out, and he kept responding all the way to the line. I know Romantic Warrior went past me quite easily, but it seems like he’s coming back to form,” Atzeni said. “He is a high-class horse, and we were pleased with the trial.”

Atzeni hails from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. He’s won big races across the globe – success which came after an initial move to Milan, Italy, to work for Alduino Botti. He later based himself in Newmarket, Great Britain, aligned with Botti’s son Marco, which preceded his highly successful association with trainer Roger Varian.

A five-time 1000m winner at Sha Tin, Stellar Express also races for prominent connections. Larry Yung, whose purple and gold colours have saluted twice in the Hong Kong Derby with Oriental Express (1997) and Olympic Express (2002), owns the bay.

Atzeni said: “He’s flying. If there was a Group 1 over 1000 metres here, he’d be very hard to beat, of course, unless Ka Ying Rising drops back to 1000. But he has no other races, so he has to run over 1200. He’s an improving horse – hopefully, he can run well.”

Zoustar gelding Stellar Express has sharply improved this term, winning the HK$4.2 million G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy Handicap (1000m), although he faces the giant task of trying to stop Ka Ying Rising from securing a 19th consecutive win, in the Sprint Cup.

Yung’s son Andy races Helios Express, who also features in the Sprint Cup against Ka Ying Rising, Raging Blizzard, Tomodachi Kokoroe, Beauty Waves and Lucky With You.

Photo: HKJC