Hong Kong: Romantic Warrior towers over Champions and Chater Cup

Romantic Warrior, who has never has raced beyond 1 1/4 miles, tries 1 1/2 miles for the first time Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse in the final Hong Kong Group 1 of the season, the Champions and Chater Cup. No one seems capable of beating him.

Romantic Warrior is the second-best horse in Hong Kong behind the great Golden Sixty. Only Golden Sixty, who has done it twice this season, and an impossible trip 15 months ago in the Hong Kong Classic Cup have been able to defeat Romantic Warrior. A 10-time winner from 13 starts, Romantic Warrior was a blowout winner this season of Hong Kong’s two most important 1 1/4-mile races, the Hong Kong Cup and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Romantic Warrior figures to justify his heavy favoritism in the Champions and Chater Cup, the eighth of 11 races on the Sha Tin card.

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Romantic Warrior does get a new rider, Zac Purton, Hong Kong’s best jockey. Romantic Warrior does not seem like a difficult ride. The 5-year-old gelding, an Irish-bred by Acclamation, has tactical and very rateable speed. He should be prominent from the start facing eight rivals in Sunday’s $1.53 million contest, which is run at level weights.

Russian Emperor won this race last year and, until dethroned, rates as Hong Kong’s best 1 1/2-mile horse. He had some trouble finishing fifth in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup on May 7, a handicap where he gave the four horses that finished in front of him between 15 and 20 pounds. Substantial give in the Sha Tin course would enhance Russian Emperor’s chances, but the gelding already has gone through a long, demanding campaign that included races in Qatar and Dubai.

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