Atkinson looked after the horse for Gold Coast trainer and former Tablelander Michael Morrison in a successful bid to qualify him for a spot in the 2023 Country Cup Final at Doomben.
Vivenzo won his way into the Final with victory in the Innisfail Cup and finished a creditable fourth behind Fire King.
He was spelled after that run and when brought back into work the syndicate of owners decided the horse would be best suited to racing in North Queensland and handed over the reins to former amateur and professional jockey Atkinson.
Morrison also remains in the ownership.
Following three barrier trials in Brisbane, Vivenzo was a close first-up second to Go Getaboy over 1400 metres at Cannon Park and then scored an historic win for the new connections in the 2024 Mt Garnet Cashmere Cup over 1800 metres.
The Atkinson family has long links with racing at Mt Garnet as among the first to set up a “camp” for the three-day races and rodeo event.
“The Cup was actually known as the Atkinson Cup,” Atkinson said.
“I rode in the cup as an amateur and won it on a horse owned by Tom Hedley and trained by Roy Chillemi as a professional.
“But Vivenzo’s win this year was probably my biggest-ever thrill in racing.”
Atkinson, who has only a small team in work after taking out his licence two years ago, trains on a 40-hectare property about 90 minutes from Cairns.
“I’ve got a 1200 metre track on the property and a walking machine so the horse had done plenty of work for his return,” he said.
“The 1400 metres on Thursday might be a bit short but we’ve got to give him a start if we’re to get him to his top for the Cairns Cup and Cairns Amateurs Cup.
“We’re hopeful of picking up the Banana Cup at Innisfail on the way through.
“We plan to tackle a 1600 metres race at Townsville’s Cluden Park after Thursday’s run.”
North Queensland’s premier jockey Lacey Morrison will ride Vivenzo on Thursday.