RACEDAY REVIEW: Brett Crawford, Andrea Atzeni and Mark Newnham maintains championship lead with Lucky Ranger

Michael Cox takes a look at the best training performance, best ride and horse to follow from Sunday’s meeting at Sha Tin.

Training performance of the day – Brett Crawford, Island Buddy

First-season trainer Brett Crawford keeps finding ways to win with horses couldn’t, and he did it again yesterday with Island Buddy.

The five-year-old was 0-for-10 for Cody Mo Wai-kit, but Crawford stripped off the headgear and tongue-tie and has now gone back-to-back in two weeks with the sprinter.

“He was backing up pretty quickly. In an ideal world I would have given him more time but the race presented - and sometimes with the program it is not easy to find the right race – but he had pulled up sound. His bodyweight had dropped off a bit which was a small concern but he had been eating right and he presented well so we went with it,” Crawford said after his 14th win of the season.

Horse to follow – Lucky Ranger

Trainer Mark Newnham is taking the long view with Lucky Ranger and says the three-year-old will be even better next season after an eye-catching Class 4 win over 1,400 meters.

“Time will be his friend,” Newnham said. “We will plan an easy season for him. That means some time between runs. He is still physically and mentally immature and we will show some patience with him.”

After 44 meetings – with 44 still scheduled this season – Newnham ended the day one win clear atop the trainers’ championship with 35, with David Hayes moving into outright second after All Round Winner ahead of Caspar Fownes (33).

Ride of the day – Andrea Atzeni, Flow Water Flow

Jerry Chau Chun-lok’s double kept his mid-season surge rolling, but ride of the day belonged to Andrea Atzeni for his gutsy last-race heist on Flow Water Flow.

Atzeni’s third winner took real nerve after he was shuffled further back than planned in a messy 1,800-meter Class 3. It was Flow Water Flow’s first time at the trip and he had the right spot on the back of Dazzling Fit. Atzeni didn’t get the tow into the race he expected but still kept his cool. It was left to a late sprint and desperate lunge late and Atzeni kept Flow Water Flow flowing despite the chaos.

The Italian lightweight will like where he sits at the halfway mark of the season: outright third in the jockeys’ championship with 23 wins, boosted by five across the last two fixtures.