Connections of Romantic Warrior indicated no concerns with being drawn in barrier two as the stage was set for the HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (14 December).<\/p>
Danny Shum\u2019s hometown hero is set to face six rivals this weekend in his attempt to lift the title for the fourth time in a row.<\/p>
\u201cDraw two is good,\u201d Shum said. \u201cIt\u2019s a small field, so it\u2019s not a big deal. It means we can be versatile with the strategy.\u201d<\/p>
Romantic Warrior has had an eventful year, beginning with his courageous second to Forever Young in the G1 Saudi Cup (1800m, dirt) in Riyadh and filling the same spot, a nose behind Soul Rush, in the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) at Meydan Racecourse.<\/p>
However, it was at the end of May that Romantic Warrior had a screw inserted into his left front leg after an injury had been discovered. The 10-time Group 1 winner made a flawless return to action on his recent lead-up start in the G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m).<\/p>
\u201cI was so sad when he had the surgery. It was one screw, it wasn\u2019t too bad for him, but for me, it was very bad,\u201d Shum continued. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of him. In Hong Kong, not just racing people, everyone knows him.\u201d<\/p>
Looking at the race, Shum said: \u201cI haven\u2019t studied the field because we hadn\u2019t had the draw, but I will be doing some work on it. His form is better than last time, he\u2019s improving. He\u2019s finished his final gallop and will only do some slow canter work now.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Romantic Warrior lifts the 2024 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Romantic Warrior\u2019s owner Peter Lau took to the stage at Thursday\u2019s (11 December) barrier draw in the Sha Tin Parade Ring and said: \u201cHe had the surgery but he seems to have recovered well. When he came back, to see what he did, I was very happy and relaxed.\u201d<\/p>
Lau also confirmed that another trip to the Gulf to take on Forever Young, the horse he joked \u201cwhose name says he never gets old\u201d, was on the cards.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s (Romantic Warrior) eight next year, now it\u2019s a race at a time. If all goes well this Sunday, what happens next will be the horse racing \u2018Rumble In The Jungle\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cThis time we\u2019ll be the underdog against the dirt champion, but we\u2019ll enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>
Of the others, Straight Arron is in gate one with Rousham Park in three, Quisisana in four, Bellagio Opera in five and Chancheng Glory drawn six.<\/p>
Joseph O\u2019Brien\u2019s Galen, who posted an encouraging second in last month\u2019s G1 Bahrain International Trophy (2000m), is in barrier seven.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”11158″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Romantic Warrior\u2019s jockey James McDonald today (11 December) reflected on his partner\u2019s qualities.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty remarkable to think what he\u2019s trying to achieve; he\u2019s just been such a good horse for such a long time, his longevity has been remarkable,\u201d McDonald said.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cThis Hong Kong Cup, he seems in as good an order as he could possibly be in and we\u2019re really looking forward to the race.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a funny horse, I\u2019ve had nothing like it in my life in terms of that I never feel like he\u2019s ever going to lose, no matter what. He\u2019s just a superb racehorse; he always gives his best, which is most important, he\u2019s got a great racing style. It\u2019s just a privilege to ride him.\u201d<\/p>
Turning to the opposition, McDonald said: \u201cIf Rousham Park brings his best form, he was highly spruiked a couple of years ago, Bellagio Opera is in great form and a young horse on the way up.<\/p>
\u201c(Quisisana) looks hard to beat, she\u2019s had a terrific year. There\u2019s definitely good competitors for him (Romantic Warrior), and he\u2019s going to need things to go right but in saying that, he\u2019s in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (14 December) 10-race fixture at Sha Tin starts at 12.25pm with the Class 4 Fairy King Prawn Handicap (1400m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”11159″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Connections of Romantic Warrior indicated no concerns with being drawn in barrier two as the stage was set for the HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (14 December).Danny Shum\u2019s hometown hero is set to face six rivals this weekend in his attempt to lift… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":11161,"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":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11156"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11156"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11468,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11156\/revisions\/11468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}