Romantic Warrior

A plan was hatched by owner Peter Lau and trainer Danny Shum as early as last June to set their multiple champion Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) on a course towards the G1 W S Cox Plate in Melbourne some four months later. Having departed Hong Kong in mid-September, the gelding endured a sub-optimal period in quarantine at Werribee until the Australian government approved the shipment of his regular feed from Hong Kong to Victoria and Romantic Warrior was an underdone fourth in the G1 Turnbull S. at Caulfield Oct....

Peter Lau's Hong Kong raider Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) can put the wraps on one of the most remarkable seasons in recent memory should he be able to take out Sunday's G1 Yasuda Kinen Sunday afternoon at Tokyo Racecourse. The one-turn, 1600-metre contest serves as a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at California's Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in early November. Nails-tough in dropping his nose down on the wire first when second-up in the G1 W S Cox Plate in late October, the...

Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), who recently overcame a difficult trip and soggy underfoot conditions to win the G1 FWD QE II Cup (2000m) for the third consecutive year, will cut back to a mile for the June 2 G1 Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo Racecourse, trainer Danny Shum confirmed Friday. "He will go to Japan," Shum told the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Leo Schlink. "He will leave around the 21st of May," and the conditioner is of the opinion that Romantic Warrior's recovery from the QE II Cup merits the...

HONG KONG, CHINA -- With one Hong Kong legend on his way to retirement, Peter Lau's Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) took another step towards cementing his own legacy, becoming the first to take the G1 FWD QE II Cup on three occasions under a masterful steer from James McDonald. Three deep into the first turn from a high draw, Romantic Warrior was hung out to dry without cover before McDonald tapped on the brakes just enough to allow the 6-year-old to slot in on the back of Sword Point...

HONG KONG, CHINA -- According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the city's weather forecast agency, about 230 millilitres of rain had fallen between the first of the year and Apr. 25. Of that amount, fully 200 mls have been recorded since the first of this month and the vast majority of that has occurred this week, as rain--at times heavy enough to completely obscure the top of the Sha Tin straight course--thunder and lightning have been just this side of relentless. The considerable precipitation has the connections of Hong Kong's...

A record 11 overseas-based gallopers, including Group 1 winners Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride of Dubai {Aus}) from Great Britain and Japan's Mad Cool (Jpn) (Dark Angel {Ire}), are among the 35 total horses invited to participate in the trio of races which comprise FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin Racecourse on Apr. 28. Trained by William Haggas, the globetrotting Dubai Honour pays a third visit to Hong Kong and will look to improve on his performance from 12 months ago, where he was a low-odds third behind the re-opposing, three-peat...

We've been waiting so long for the proper Flat to start that it seems almost criminal to veer straight off to the other side of the world, but there was plenty of interest for breeders from this side at Rosehill in Sydney on Saturday morning.  One person who managed to stay awake past 2am to watch the highly impressive last-to-first romp of Post Impressionist (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the G3 N E Manion Cup was his breeder Henrietta Egan, who is based at Corduff Stud with her husband David.  Now...

Group 1 winners Regional (GB) (Territories {Ire}) and Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}) head 12 European entries for the FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin on April 28. A strong international challenge also includes 25 potential runners from Japan, eight from Australia and three from the UAE, while there are 41 locally-trained entries. Regional, now six, gave his trainer Ed Bethell a first Group 1 success in last year's Haydock Sprint Cup and he has been entered for the G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize, with prize-money totalling approximately £2.2...

Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) became just the third horse since the turn of the century to capture each of the four 2000-metre features in Hong Kong, as he outbattled fellow BMW Hong Kong Derby winner Voyage Bubble (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}) in an epic renewal of the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse Sunday afternoon. The 6-year-old joins Vengeance of Rain (NZ) and Designs on Rome (Ire) as the only horses since 2000 to win the Derby, Gold Cup, G1 FWD QE II Cup and...

Seven times has Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) gone to post over the 2000 metres at Sha Tin Racecourse and on six of those occasions, he has proved victorious, more times than not in convincing fashion. His lone blemish over the course and distance came in the 2023 G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup, when he was run down close home by multiple Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) as the odds-on pop, but barring something unforeseen, Romantic Warrior should be righting that wrong against 10 others...

Romantic Warrior (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) , who successfully defended his title in a thrilling renewal of the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin Dec. 10, will be given a short break before building back up in time for an appearance in the G1 City Hong Kong Gold Cup Feb. 25. The not-unexpected decision means the 5-year-old will sidestep a clash with Longines Hong Kong Mile winner and three-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) in the G1 Stewards' Cup over 1600 metres Jan....

Officials at the Hong Kong Jockey Club could offer their devoted fans only limited access to the Longines Hong Kong International Races meeting from 2020 to 2022, a necessity attributable to the Coronavirus outbreak in March 2020, and while the attendance restrictions were gradually eased over the next few years, there were certain parameters and restrictions in place to ensure the show would go on. With things more or less back to normal in the SAR, the patrons--a reported 65,252 of them--poured through the Sha Tin turnstiles Sunday afternoon to...