Romantic Warrior dazzles at Group 2 race return

HONG KONG – Romantic Warrior made a triumphant return to racing at Sha Tin on Nov 23, as he sauntered to an emphatic victory in the Group 2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2,000m) for jockey James McDonald and trainer Danny Shum.

The Sunday highlight is one of three Group 2 preludes – all carrying the same purse of HK$5.35 million (S$897,000) – to one of the four Group 1 events making up the HK$130 million Longines Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) 2025 meeting at the same venue in three weeks’ time on Dec 14, the Longines Hong Kong Cup (2,000m).

The other two dress rehearsals were the BOCHK Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) that saw another procession from the former British colony’s boom horse Ka Ying Rising (Zac Purton, $5.30) for David Hayes and the BOCHK Jockey Club Mile (1,600m) taken out by Galaxy Patch (McDonald, $31) for Pierre Ng.

The latter two contests are springboards to the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) and Longines Hong Kong Mile (1,600m) respectively.

Resuming after 232 days between races after surgery to his left fore fetlock, Romantic Warrior – Hong Kong’s global champion – lifted his world-record earnings to HK$217.7 million as the Hong Kong International Sale graduate became the first horse to win a third BOCHK Jockey Club Cup after victories in 2022 and 2024.

“He’s so special. It takes the words out of my mouth to be fair, it’s an absolute privilege to ride him and every time he goes around there’s a huge smile on the face. He’s really touching, that horse,” said McDonald.

The jockey was on a treble, having also scored earlier aboard the John Size-trained Fit For Beauty ($17) for his breakthrough at this new short Hong Kong stint after firing blanks at his first two meetings.

“Him (Danny) and his team just gloat over him, he’s a special horse – one of a kind. His training performance is incredible.

“To have him looking how he did, feeling how he did and performing how he did was a real testament to his training ability.”

Stepping smoothly from barrier two as the $7 favourite, Romantic Warrior settled fourth behind leading duo Voyage Bubble (Purton) and Sword Point (David Probert), while Straight Arron (Vincent Ho) sat third.

Turning for home, McDonald popped his mount the question, circling wide, before letting loose in the straight with an unmatched burst of speed.

The Acclamation gelding’s winning time was 2min 03.72sec, while the official margin was an eased down 1½ lengths ahead of Voyage Bubble, who held second, while Ka Ying Generation (Luke Ferraris) rolled into third place.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my team, especially my stable assistant and his home rider,” said Shum. “They put a lot of effort on him and, of course, my stable vet Lawrence Chan – he’s also helped him a lot.

“Before the race, I talked to James and we all understood that the pace would be slow, and then we said the most important thing is to relax the horse. He had a good turn of foot, we were not worried about the pace being slow.”

Romantic Warrior will next target a record-extending fourth consecutive HK$40 million Hong Kong Cup success at the HKIR.

“It’s not easy to take a horse 232 days back to a Group 2 over 2,000 (metres). He’s a superstar, he’s got talent and is smart,” said Shum. “He didn’t look seven years old, even when he turns eight, he will think he’s still a baby.

“I will just keep him happy; he’s fit at the moment. If you really want me to put a figure on it, I will say he was 85 per cent. After this race, he will put on another 10 or 12 pounds.

“I’d like to thank Hugh Bowman, of course, he trials the horse a lot and teaches the horse to relax. He also helps the team and the stable a lot.” HKJC