Romantic Warrior’s quest to secure the Hong Kong Triple Crown faces its second test when the Danny Shum trained eleven-time winner steps out to contest the Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Shum decided to keep his champion at home this time around to focus on the Triple Crown after having taken a different route last year when he tackled the very best on the international stage in a three race campaign which brought a win in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta at Meydan in January 2025, followed by two huge runner-up finishes in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February (behind Forever Young) and in Group 1 Dubai Turf in April (behind Soul Rush).
Romantic Warrior underwent minor surgery on his return to Hong Kong and only returned to race action in November, and he has never missed a beat from there, winning three-in-a-row.
The first of those victories came The BOCHK Jockey Club Cup. He then followed up with a record fourth success in the Hong Kong Cup. That all set him up for the important first leg of the Triple Crown, The Stewards’ Cup over 1600m which Romantic Warrior duly landed with contemptuous ease.
On Sunday, the Hong Kong Gold Cup … the second leg of Triple Crown … steps the distance test up to 2000m, a distance over which Romantic Warrior has thrived on many previous occasions.
Romantic Warrior will face five opponents on Sunday … three less than he had to contend with in the Stewards’ Cup.
Romantic Warrior raced against … and beat … three of those runners in the Stewards’ Cup, easily accounting for Voyage Bubble and My Wish (both by 3.50 lengths) and Beauty Joy (by 5.25 lengths).
Even with the extra ground, there is little to suggest that any of these runners should be able to turn the tables on Romantic Warrior … and the same can be said of Ensured and Winning Wing.
Having said that, of Romantic Warrior’s opponents on Sunday, Voyage Bubble is worthy of a special mention.
The Ricky Yiu trained gelding rubber-stamped his class by taking out the Hong Kong Triple Crown last season, a feat that had only been achieved once before by River Verdon back in the 1993/94 season.
Zac Purton rides Voyage Bubble and he would surely love to put one over James McDonald and Romantic Warrior, but McDonald will be on a mission of his own though to keep Romantic Warrior’s Triple Crown dream alive … and he will be doing that only twenty-six hours after partnering Autumn Glow to a perfect ten wins from ten starts in Sydney.
The final leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown is the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup a race run over 2400m in May.
