It was a case of one Australian keeping the saddle warm for another Australian when Hugh Bowman rode Romantic Warrior, James McDonald’s favourite horse, in a trial earlier this week in preparation for Romantic Warrior’s upcoming assignment in the HK$30 million G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, which will be contested on FWD Champions Day on Sunday, 26 April at Sha Tin.
McDonald will ride Romantic Warrior on Champions Day where the Danny Shum, James McDonald and Romantic Warrior trio will be looking to not only claim a record-extending fourth Queen Elizabeth II Cup victory after wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024, but also to add another Group 1 to the thirteen Group 1’s Romantic Warrior has already achieved in four different countries … and, last but not least, to increase Romantic Warrior’s world record earnings of HK$254.66 million with another big payday.
Now that is a racehorse!
“He was great. He went through his paces, and he was nice and relaxed,” said Bowman after the trial.
“He can have a tendency sometimes to be a bit fresh and overdo it, but he was really relaxed, so that’s very encouraging for the team going into the main event.
“He went to the line really well and he had a good blow to finish him off from a fitness perspective.”
As good as he is, Romantic Warrior will face some serious opposition in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with that lineup including the likes of international Group 1 winners Masquerade Ball (a Japanese mare trained by Takahisa Tezuka), Royal Champion (a big race contender from Ireland) and Sosie (who won the Hong Kong Vase for French trainer Andre Fabre in December).
