There were emotional scenes in Sydney on Saturday after top jockey Andrea Atzeni rode a big-race winner in front of the parents of his jockey friend Stefano Cherchi who died after a fall.
Atzeni, who moved from Britain to Hong Kong late last year, was called up to ride Circle Of Fire in the £1 million Sydney Cup.
Circle Of Fire had previously raced in the royal colours in Britain, trained by Sir Michael Stoute for the late Queen Elizabeth and then the King and Queen until his sale to Ciaron Maher.
The horse remained unbeaten in Australia after he was steered to a two lengths success in the Group 1 feature at Randwick.
Atzeni kissed his hand and pointed to the sky after crossing the line to honour fellow Sardinian Cherchi, 23, who had been riding Australia since January.
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Atzeni had spent time at Cherchi’s bedside after he suffered a head injury and internal bleeding in a fall at Canberra from which he never recovered.
“It’s definitely for him,” Atzeni said. “Everybody’s been going through a tough time, starting from his family who I’m very close to.
“I must say how amazing it is to see them here, considering it wouldn’t have been an easy decision for them to come racing today.
“But it shows how tough they are. I knew him quite well. We spent a lot of time together in Newmarket and I kept in touch with him very closely when he moved to Australia.”
After dismounting he went to hug Cherchi’s parents Sebastian and Maria and their daughter Eleanora.
“This is my first time riding in Sydney,” he said. “I’ve been here three times in the last three weeks, the first time I went to Canberra to see Stefano. I spent about 15 hours with him and then I left because I was obviously riding in Hong Kong on Sunday.
“Unfortunately I got the bad news that Stefano left us. You think you prepare for something like this. But when it comes to it it’s very tough.
“I must say it’s unbelievable that the family are here today. It must be tough for them to be here because I came.
“I’ve been speaking to his parents and Stefano’s sister every single day. Everyone here has been great to them. They’ve been here for three weeks. Hopefully Stefano can go home next week.”
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