ROMANTIC WARRIOR STAYS AT HOME THIS TIME AROUND - TARGETS THE HONG KONG TRIPLE CROWN

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Romantic Warrior, one of the superstars of Hong Kong racing, will kick off his quest to land the Hong Kong Triple Crown when he tackles the Group 1 Stewards Cup over 1600m at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Trainer Danny Shum has elected to keep the much travelled eight-year-old at home this time around, after due consideration, resisting the temptation to have another go at the US$20 million Saudi Cup in February and the US$5 million Dubai Turf in March … races in which he finished second in heartbreaking fashion last year, beaten by a nose by Forever Young in Riyadh after a titanic struggle, and only headed in the last half stride by Soul Rush in another epic encounter in Dubai.

With total prize-money already banked totalling $HK240 105 697 and having recorded twenty wins from twenty-seven starts, which includes Group 1 wins in Australia (the 2023 Cox Plate), Dubai, Hong Kong and Tokyo … the eleven-time Group 1 winning son of Acclamation has little left to prove and so an ‘easier’ home target is a logical option to take for a horse who doesn’t owe anybody anything.

Romantic Warrior has won both of his starts this season. The first in the Group 2 BOCH Jockey Club Cup was quite incredible given it was Romantic Warrior’s first run in 232 days … he had undergone surgery during that time for an incomplete fetlock fracture during his time away from race action … he was kicking off over 2000m … and trounced a horse of the calibre of Voyage Bubble, the 2025 Hong Kong Triple Crown winner by a clearcut 1.50 lengths.

In his second run this season, Romantic Warrior rewrote the record book by winning Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup for an unprecedented fourth time … and now Shum has targeted the Hong Kong Triple Crown which comprises Sunday’s Group 1 Steward’s Cup over 1600m, the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup over 2000m and the Group 1 Champions and Chater Cup over 2400m.

Romantic Warrior wins to date have come over distances ranging from 1200m to 2040m.

James McDonald, who was given the news this week that his other champion Via Sistina had been retired, has ridden Romantic Warrior in all but three of the nineteen starts the gelding has had over the last three-and-a-half seasons will, of course, again make the trip from Sydney to be in the saddle on Sunday, where the champion pairing are due to face eight opponents, a lineup which again includes, amongst others, Voyage Bubble and the Mark Newnham trained My Wish.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club purchased Romantic Warrior at the 2019 Tattersalls October yearling sale for 300 000 Guineas.

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