Champion middle-distance galloper Romantic Warrior will face up to four fellow Group 1 winners as he attempts to become the first Hong Kong-trained horse to win the 2000m feature at Flemington on Saturday (7 October).
The five-year-old gelding will make his overseas debut and it’s also the first time he has raced in an anti-clock wise direction, but he hasn’t been troubled with the other way of going since arriving in Australia last month.
A raging favourite for Saturday’s HK$3.7 million race, trainer Danny Shum is using the Group One as a stepping stone to the G1 HK$24 million Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday 28 October.
“For him, I never doubt his potential. He is a talented horse, a superstar,” Shum said after track work on Wednesday when asked about Romantic Warrior’s chances on Saturday.
“The horse is really good and has improved day by day.”
But warned his champion galloper is not 100 per cent fit for the race, but perhaps 85 or 90 per cent.
Allotted top weight of 130lbs, Romantic Warrior has drawn barrier 11 in the 16-horse field.
Hong Kong’s only glory for a locally trained horse that travelled to Australia was Cape of Good Hope’s victory in the G1 2005 Australia Stakes – now the William Reid Stakes – (1200m).
And it’s 21 years since a Hong Kong-trained horse has tackled the Turnbull Stakes and the trainer who mounted the ambitious challenge was David Hayes, who finished fourth with Helene Vitality in the 2002 edition.
While Helene Vitality’s Turnbull Stakes was the third of a five-race Australian campaign which culminated in 21st place in the G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), he was beaten just over two lengths by the champion Northerly in the Turnbull.
Hayes said Helene Vitality was a good horse, “but not a patch on Romantic Warrior and not in the same class.”
Champion Sydney-based jockey James McDonald will be reunited with Romantic Warrior on Saturday and has perfect record of three rides for three wins, including their success in last December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and the G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) in April.
McDonald realises the Cox Plate is Romantic Warrior’s main aim but says the gelding can win the Turnbull Stakes on the spacious Flemington track.
“He’ll love it,” McDonald said after a 1200m track gallop at Flemington with stablemate Romantic Charm last weekend.
“I think he’s a damn good horse and I wish he’d stay on for the Champions Stakes.
“He’s an absolute star of a racehorse and he gives me a hell of a thrill on a racecourse. He’ll be hard to beat.”
A winner of nine of his first ten races, Romantic Warrior has only been unplaced once in his 14-start career which boasts 10 wins and three seconds.
European raider West Wind Blows has been steady in the betting and looms as a challenger at some stage of the race off the back of being a 2000m-plus specialist but is yet to win at Group One level for Newmarket’s Simon & Ed Crisford. The five-year-old, a dual Group 3 winner in France, also holds a nomination for both the Cox Plate and the Caulfield Cup (2400m) and would bypass the Cup ballot with victory in the Turnbull.
Master trainer Chris Waller’s Soulcombe and Osipenko create some interest, while Ciaron Maher, who trains last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip in partnership with David Eustace, said the seven year-old stallion would appreciate what could be a soft Flemington track.
“I think he’s going better than ever. We were rapt with his first-up run,” Maher said.
“It’s well-noted that you’ve got to keep his feet in the right order but thankfully they’ve been really good.
“He’s got a bit of a swagger about him at the moment.”
The Maher/Eustace-trained Smokin’ Romans won last year’s Turnbull at big odds but it isn’t going into the race with the same good lead-up form.
