Romantic Warrior sealed his place among Hong Kong’s pantheon of equine immortals as only the third horse to clinch the Hong Kong Triple Crown with triumph in the HK$13 million (approx. £1.2m) G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (1m4f/2400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday 24 May.
Speaking immediately after Romantic Warrior claimed a record-extending 15th Group 1 by a Hong Kong horse under James McDonald, joining River Verdon (1993/94) and Voyage Bubble (2024/25) as a Triple Crown winner, trainer Danny Shum said: “I’m such a lucky guy, lucky trainer – because I can train Romantic Warrior.
“Before the race we already set up the plan – put him to sleep, let him relax and try to hit the front. He hit the line in the last 400m, so James has done a great job. He’s a top-class jockey.”
How it all unfolded
Claiming a HK$10m Triple Crown bonus, Romantic Warrior boosted his world-record prize money earnings to HK$288.7m for owner Peter Lau after the eight-year-old overcame Numbers by half a length with Deep Monster a further length-and-a-half away in third in 2m 26.67s – the same time Voyage Bubble recorded last season.
Settling fourth behind Numbers and Romantic Thor, Romantic Warrior worked into the race under the unflappable McDonald before the reigning LONGINES World’s Best Jockey stoked up the eight-year-old deep into the straight and overhauled Numbers at the 50m mark before edging clear.
Numbers fought tigerishly to hold off Deep Monster as Romantic Warrior rattled home in 22.77s, extending his winning range at Group 1 level from 1600m to 2400m.
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Horse of the year
Shum is considering sending the Hong Kong International Sale graduate to Conghua for the first time before identifying next season’s targets with the winner of 24 races from 31 starts.
“The plan is to give him a break. I will think about whether to send him to Conghua, same as Ka Ying Rising – Ka Ying Rising is very happy. So, I might send him to Conghua, give him a little break, and then see how he goes,” Shum said.
“We’re happy because we have a very good team and stable. Peter always makes the right decisions and James McDonald is a very good jockey.”
McDonald added: “He’s a Triple Crown winner, he thoroughly deserved it. I read an article, the boss [Mr Winfried Englebrecht Bresges’s CEO blog] said he was already an immortal and I totally agree with him.
“He didn’t need to win this to be that. I think this is the cherry on top – he should be Horse of the Year this year and I think he stamped that by winning the Triple Crown.”
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Purton eyes milestone win
Zac Purton, meanwhile, edged closer to the 2,000-win milestone with a treble, striking on David Hall–trained Flying Amani in the Class 5 Standard Chartered Digital Assets Handicap, Jimmy Ting’s Come Fast Fay Fay in the Class 4 Standard Chartered Sustainable Finance Handicap and Shum’s Packing King in the Standard Chartered Corporate & Investment Banking Handicap.
“It was alright. I was hoping to ride one or two today, so three was better than expected,” said Purton after notching his 1,998th Hong Kong win.
Shum’s double boosted his seasonal tally to 56 wins, leading Caspar Fownes (54), Mark Newnham (52), Francis Lui (50), David Hayes (49) and John Size (46) in the race for the trainers’ title.
Hong Kong racing continues at Happy Valley on Wednesday 27 May.
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Ella Magyar