Atzeni wins US Gr.3 on True Valour

True Valour made his fourth start in North America a winning one when coming late and fast in the Gr.3 Thunder Road Stakes over a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Saturday.

There was a familiar face on board True Valour too, namely Andrea Atzeni who was riding the colt for the first time, delivering him with a perfectly-timed run to beat Ohio by half a length in a bunched finish.

It was a third Stakes success for True Valour as he'd also won the Listed Celebration Stakes at the Curragh in 2017 and Gr.3 Ballycorus Stakes at Leopardstown in 2018 when trained by Johnny Murtagh. He is now trained by Simon Callaghan in California.

Callaghan trains several horses for Qatar Racing and has also won Stakes races with Out of The Flames and Treasuring. He also saddled another ex-European runner, Special Purpose, to finish runner-up in a Stakes a race last year. Treasuring later sold for 500,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

Also on Saturday, though in the opposite part of the world, three-year-old Charge (by Zoustar) was third in the Gr.3 Eskimo Prince Stakes at Warwick Farm carrying the Qatar Racing silks.