ENGLISH TEXTS
Longines Hong Kong Cup ( Gr . 1 ) on Sunday , December 8 th in front of 70,000 spectators at Sha Tin , Danny Shum ’ s charge became the richest horse of all time with HK $ 177,322,706 in his bank account , the equivalent of € 21.7 million . He thus surpassed his compatriot Golden Sixty , recently retired with HK $ 167.2 million . And Romantic Warrior is about to turn 7 , while his predecessor left the scene this year at the age of 8 . This may be just the beginning ! Indeed , the horse is the stuff of dreams . His now regular pilot , the New Zealander James McDonald , crowned “ world ’ s best jockey “ in the Longines rankings this year for the second time , calls him perfect , a perfectly tuned car that , like a Formula 1 speedster superior to the others , gives its driver and team room for manoeuvre . Romantic Warrior ’ s entourage has done nothing to spare that margin . Absolutely nothing encouraged his owner Peter Lau Pak Fai or his trainer Danny Shum to step out of their comfort zone . They could have been content to dominate the lucrative Hong Kong circuit , from 1,600 to 2,000 metres , as Golden Sixty had done in previous years . However , while Golden Sixty , who blossomed during Covid , was genuinely constrained to stay at home by circumstances , it is adventurers who are now organising Romantic Warrior ’ s programme . Danny Shum served his apprenticeship with Ivan Allan , a trainer straight out of an Ian Fleming novel , or a “ Pirates of the Caribbean “ casting call . The Wikipedia page devoted to him raises more questions than it answers . There is no mention of his career as a trainer and horseman , for that matter , and yet ... This globetrotter , born in Malaysia in January 1941 , less than a year before the Japanese invasion , became champion trainer in Singapore , then in Hong Kong , which he joined in 1992 . Also an owner in Europe , his colours won the St Leger in 1984 with Comanche Run , and the champion Godolphin stayer Classic Cliché belonged to him at the beginning of his career . He owned a nine-bedroom house in Newmarket , where his former mistress lived after they parted . It was with Ivan Allan that Danny Shum discovered England , when his boss sent him to Ascot to accompany his runners Indigenous ( 1999 ) and Firebolt ( 2003 ). Neither won , but the idea of returning on his own took root in Danny Shum ’ s mind , and he would go on to win the King ’ s Stand Stakes ( Gr . 1 ) in 2010 with Little Bridge . Fairy King Prawn , Hong Kong ’ s champion miler trained by Ivan Allan , also went on to win the Yasuda Kinen in Japan , and this is the second major international race that Romantic Warrior has won , last June , ahead of the best Japanese horses .
Purchased as a yearling in Ireland , resold in Hong Kong Previously , in October 2023 , Romantic Warrior , a colt born in Ireland and bought as a yearling for £ 300,000 at Newmarket by former champion jockey Mick Kinane , had won the Cox Plate ( Gr . 1 ), one of the three main races of the Melbourne Cup Carnival , on a left-handed track ( while they only race right-handed in Hong Kong ) whose very short home straight is not unlike that of Happy Valley , where he won his first two races , in the autumn of 2021 , at odds of 3.70 and then 1.40 . Purchased for around € 500,000 by his current owner at the Hong Kong International Sale , which offers for resale the yearlings that the Jockey Club has bought from all over the world , Romantic Warrior had already fulfilled his contract by winning the most important race in the eyes of Hong Kong owners , the Hong Kong Derby , in April . The 4-year-old ended this first season of eight starts with a seventh victory , also a 1 st one in the FWD QE2 Cup ( Gr . 1 ), without any foreign competition . Romantic Warrior ’ s second campaign was initially limited to six starts , including two Group 1 victories , in the FWD QE2 Cup and then the Longines Hong Kong Cup for the first time .
An insatiable entourage But the following summer was devoted to his first expedition to Australia , with a 4 th place at Flemington and then that victorious Cox Plate , at Moonee Valley , by a nose . Romantic Warrior followed up with another double in the Hong Kong Cups before winning over the mile in the Yasuda Kinen , last June . 24 years earlier , Danny Shum had accompanied Fairy King Prawn when he won the same Japanese championship , a first for Chinese racing . Was the follower trying to follow in the footsteps of his master ? With a third success in the Longines Hong Kong Cup , Romantic Warrior has just reached a new world peak . Peter Lau and Danny Shum are not satisfied yet , however . The horse has been vaccinated to begin the sanitary protocol that should allow him to hit the road again this winter . Last Wednesday , he left for Dubai where , if all goes well , he should start in a Maktoum Challenge race , followed by the Longines Jebel Hatta ( Gr . 1 ) on January 24 th . Then , it will be the Saudi Cup , the richest race in the world , on the dirt at Riyadh , in February , and finally an attempt in the Dubai World Cup ( Gr . 1 ) on April 5 th , again on dirt , but at Meydan , unless he returns to turf for the Dubai Turf ( Gr . 1 ) on the same evening .
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