Danny Shum remains pleased with Romantic Warrior\u2019s progress ahead of Sunday\u2019s (20 November) HK$5 million G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin, however, the handler admits that going into this weekend\u2019s traditional trials day for next month\u2019s LONGINES Hong Kong International Races first-up is not the ideal plan.<\/p>
\u201cThe only concern is that he has missed the run. This is a big challenge, first-up over 2000 metres, it\u2019s a big challenge \u2013 it\u2019s not easy,\u201d Shum said.<\/p>
Romantic Warrior has proven to be the ultimate professional across his eight-start career, winning seven times with victories in the 2022 Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m), 2022 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) and 2022 G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m).<\/p>
The four-year-old boasts a rating of 122 and was expected to initially step out in last month\u2019s G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m) but setbacks curtailed that with last season\u2019s Champion Four-Year-Old, Champion Middle-Distance Horse and Most Improved Horse set to reappear first-up this weekend following a pair of first-past-the-post trial efforts.<\/p>
\u201cHe has very good racing manners, his racing manners are amazing,\u201d Shum said.<\/p>
The 2021 Hong Kong International Sale graduate shot up 70 rating points last season to reach a career-high mark of 122 after joining Vengeance Of Rain (2005), Ambitious Dragon (2011), Designs On Rome (2014) and Werther (2016) as victors of the Hong Kong Derby-QEII Cup double in the same season.<\/p>
\u201cThe horse is going well \u2013 his trials have been good, his gallops too. He\u2019s ready to go and he\u2019s improving \u2013 Zac (Purton) trialled him and he said the horse is getting better and better,\u201d Shum said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Romantic Warrior hits the line in a recent barrier trial ahead of Tourbillon Diamond and Panfield.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
James McDonald will take the reins this weekend with regular rider Karis Teetan out due to illness. McDonald has been in scintillating form of late winning last month\u2019s G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington aboard In Secret as well as the G1 W.S. Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley with Anamoe.<\/p>
\u201cHe has a good jockey \u2013 James McDonald \u2013 and he can help a lot. I spoke to the owner and with Karis (Teetan) out, we were uncertain about his return, so to be safe, I actually asked Zac Purton to ride but he was already booked (Beauty Joy) for Tony Cruz.<\/p>
\u201cI spoke to the owner and James McDonald was the one. He\u2019s amazing, he rode Lockheed for me in the past and he\u2019s a very good jockey,\u201d Shum said.<\/p>
Shum will be double-handed in Sunday\u2019s BOCHK Jockey Club Cup with Tourbillon Diamond also taking his place under Alexis Badel.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s very fit, very fit. I trialled him and Alexis (Badel) reported that he looks better and better. He\u2019s a very honest horse, he tries every time, so he will run a good race too,\u201d Shum said.<\/p>
Tourbillon Diamond won a pair of Group 3 contests last term, claiming the 2021 G3 Sa Sa Ladies\u2019 Purse Handicap (1800m) and 2022 G3 Premier Plate Handicap (1800m).<\/p>
\u201cHe always tries, which is good for a good horse, he needs to have that character to always try,\u201d Shum said.<\/p>
Tourbillon Diamond contests this weekend following a first-up second to California Spangle in the Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy on 16 October.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”31434″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Danny Shum remains pleased with Romantic Warrior\u2019s progress ahead of Sunday\u2019s (20 November) HK$5 million G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin, however, the handler admits that going into this weekend\u2019s traditional trials day for next month\u2019s LONGINES Hong Kong International Races first-up is not the ideal plan.\u201cThe only… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":31436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31432"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31432"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31475,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31432\/revisions\/31475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}