Atzeni In Flying Form With Stradivarius Ride Up For Grabs
With Frankie Dettori and John Gosden “taking a sabbatical”, some of British racing’s most exciting mounts have become available.
For Andrea Atzeni, one of those will be nothing new. For though Stradivarius has formed such a partnership with Dettori since winning his first Gold Cup in 2018, it was actually Atzeni who rode him to his first Group 1. That came in the 2017 Goodwood Cup, while Atzeni also rode him to his first Royal Ascot victory, in that year’s Group 2 Queen’s Vase.
Owner Bjorn Nielsen could be one of the main men who determine who the Gosdens choose. While Emily Upjohn and Inspiral are up-and-coming stars in the Classic generation, Stradivarius is the star of the show at Clarehaven. The likes of Rab Havlin and Tom Marquand may also be in line for the ride, but Atzeni’s triumph in the past will surely bode well in his favour.
Should he get the ride once again and be successful at Glorious Goodwood, then who knows where that could take him?
Duo At Haydock Could Enhance His Recent Strike Rate
Atzeni is a man in flying form too. He has ridden at a 45% strike rate in the last fortnight and has won on five of his last seven runners. We’ve had a look at his two chances at Haydock on Thursday below.
Captain Winters (2.30 Haydock)
In the colours of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, which Atzeni regularly carries on big race days, CAPTAIN WINTERS could well get off the mark in the novice event.
He was fourth on debut behind Godolphin’s Changing Colours and while that horse has been defeated at odds-on since, it was still a solid debut effort from Kevin Ryan’s charge. The runner-up has won since, so the form is fairly decent.
Captain Winters is superbly bred. By Lope De Vega, he is a half-brother to seven winners. There must be something in his dam’s blood, for all seven have achieved RPrs of over 100, with five of those reaching ratings above 110. Among those are Cape Byron, Ostilio and Third Realm.
There is therefore little doubt that this juvenile will be winning plenty of races in time. Those will likely be over 1m and over once he develops, but this 7f trip is ideal for the time being.
Lost In Time (3.30 Haydock)
So far in 2022, Atzeni has ridden twice for Saeed bin Surorr. On both of those occasions, he has been victorious.
They combine here with the five-year-old LOST IN TIME, who has only been seen intermittently since the start of his three-year-old season. He had very respectable form as a juvenile before disappointing in Dubai, but he has been unable to find his feet since.
All four of his runs since February 2020 have come after breaks of at least 90 days, which has ensured he has likely always lost a bit in terms of race fitness against his rivals. Nevertheless, he has run decent races the last twice, including when returning from seven months off at the beginning of June.
He was second at Leicester that day over 1m, ultimately running out of juice at the end. The drop back to 7f could well suit and for the first time in over two years, he is racing relatively soon after his previous run. That should give him more of an edge and a maerk of 79 is below what he is surely capable of.