Six months after claiming his first Group 1 Down Under, Andrea Atzeni is back for more.
The Italian jockey has won elite-level events in his homeland, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Germany, while he also guided Circle Of Fire to a dominant Sydney Cup victory back in April.
"To win a Group 1 in Australia was brilliant really," Atzeni told
Racing.com.
"Now being based in Hong Kong makes things a lot easier for me to be able to travel to Australia for these Group 1 races if needed, so I was very lucky that Ciaron Maher approached me to ride Circle Of Fire.
"Luckily, we got the job done, it's always great to win Group 1s and to win the Sydney Cup was pretty special."
Atzeni will return to Australia next week, where he's been booked for the ride aboard the James Cummings-trained mare Zardozi in the Caulfield Cup.
"There's a lot of lightweights in the Caulfield Cup with 50kg, 50.5kg and 51kg and there's only so many jockeys that can do that weight," Atzeni explained.
"James just got in contact with me and he asked me if I would go over and ride the mare in the Caulfield Cup.
"Obviously with 51kg, it's light enough for me but it looks like it's worth doing."
Atzeni watched Zardozi's performance in the Metropolitan Handicap, where she was narrowly beaten by Land Legend, and noted that she'll meet that galloper better off at the weights when they clash again at Caulfield.
"She's a good mare, she's an Oaks winner, she obviously gets the trip very well and she's carrying no weight," he said