Romantic Warrior battles to record third QEII Cup win
HONG KONG - Romantic Warrior stunned jockey James McDonald and once again lived up to his name as he produced a titanic surge to land a record-breaking third FWD QEII Cup (2,000m) at Sha Tin racecourse on April 28.
Peter Lau’s superstar clinched a seventh Group 1 race in spectacular circumstances. He overcame a problematic trip instigated by stall 10, was forced to kick off a muddling pace which developed against him and was then pushed wide by several of his rivals around the home turn.
Despite this, the result mirrored last year’s running, with Romantic Warrior holding off the gallant Mitsumasa Nakauchida-trained Prognosis to score by a neck and surpass Eishin Preston’s two victories in the race in 2002 and 2003.
The runner-up was manoeuvred into a threatening position by jockey Yuga Kawada after breaking slowest and losing notable ground from the stalls, but he was soon engaged by Romantic Warrior towards his outside in the home straight and ultimately had to yield by a neck.
“I’m speechless – he’s awesome,” an emotional McDonald said. “He was beaten at the 600m, he just finds a way. It’s incredible. I dead-set didn’t have one thing go my way. I had 10 riders dead-set against me and the horse.
“He is incredible. There wasn’t one part of the race I was happy with... I’m just in disbelief.”
The same battling qualities which have seen Romantic Warrior establish himself as Hong Kong’s premier middle-distance horse were evident again as he fought to another narrow success, adding to magnificent victories in the Group 1 W.S. Cox Plate (2,040m) in October, Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) in December and Group 1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m) in February.
The six-year-old Irish-bred gelding by Acclamation will now bid to enhance his sparkling record with another overseas engagement as trainer Danny Shum is contemplating stepping back in trip for the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen (1,600m) at Tokyo racecourse on June 21.
Said Shum: “Japan will be next, we want to go there, but our first priority is to see how the horse is. When he came in, he seemed a bit tired. We all love this horse. He always tries his best. Today, no horses could lock him in – he just wouldn’t stop trying.”
On a day when many horses – including the legendary Golden Sixty in the Group 1 FWD Champions Mile (1,600m) – struggled to make inroads on the yielding track, Romantic Warrior proved one of the exceptions.
The front-running North Bridge finished third to round out the placings for Japan. HKJC
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