FRESH off reaching 1000 British winners, Andrea Atzeni is hoping old favourite The Tin Man can bring him more joy on Saturday.
He teams up with James Fanshawe’s veteran in the Sprint Cup at the track he brought up the milestone on Friday.
And Atzeni gets the leg-up on the eight-year-old for the very first time with the Fanshawe team now in top nick.
The Tin Man knows his way around Haydock, winning the Group 1 in 2018 and finishing runner-up twice.
Atzeni told Sun Racing: “Getting up the thousand was not something on my mind until recently but since it was in sight it was great to get it done.
“Us jockeys don’t always have things to look forward to like that!
“I wanted to do it in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid so to do that was special.
“If I didn’t do it like that then the Sprint Cup would have been the next best thing.
“The Tin Man is a great ride to pick up and I’ll be picking the brains of Oisin Murphy who has ridden him recently.”
With Murphy partnering hot favourite Dream Of Dreams, Atzeni got the call in the week from Fanshawe.
But how does a jockey go about riding a horse in a Group 1 he’s never sat on before.
Atzeni explained: “To be honest with a horse like The Tin Man we’ll be okay as he knows the game inside out.
“But I’ll have a good chat with James beforehand and given the technology available these days, I can look at so much just on my phone!
“All his replays, all his runs in this race I can watch back and I’ll speak to Oisin beforehand too.
“I could have gone and sat on him at home and I might have done had he been more of a tricky customer, but there’s no need with him.”
The 29-year-old is hoping Ebor hero Fujaira Prince can become his next big Group 1 horse and the news that jockeys will be given a travel exemption to head to Ireland will be music to his ears.
He added: “I think he’ll go over for the Irish St Leger, that’s the plan the last I heard.
“Once you establish yourself as a rider all you want are those big horses and hopefully this horse can be it.
“He was very good at York and he could be a Cup horse down the line. We all really like him.
“The Irish Leger looks a good race for him and it would be great to be able to get over to Ireland with him.”
The Betfair Sprint Cup forms part of the 2020 QIPCO British Champions Series. For more info visit britishchampionsseries.com/
