Trainer Danny Shum admits the prospect of redemption in next year’s G1 Saudi Cup is tempting but insists he’ll take it “race by race” with Romantic Warrior throughout the 2025-26 season.
The world’s highest-earning racehorse ended his two-week quarantine and returned to his stable in Sha Tin last week after his bold and brave Middle East campaign ended with an agonising defeat at the hands of Soul Rush in April’s G1 Dubai Turf (1800m).
The three-race assignment in the Middle East yielded an emphatic win in track record time in January’s G1 Jebel Hatta (1800m) at Meydan Racecourse, a monumental runner-up effort on his first start on dirt in Riyadh in the Saudi Cup and another brave but narrow defeat in the Dubai Turf.
Talking to Idol Horse at Sha Tin on Sunday, Shum confirmed his stable star is enjoying a well-earned rest after his four-month mission.
“He’s a bit tired but of course you can tell he’s happy to be back,” Shum said. “He left Hong Kong to go to Dubai in December and he’s been away for a long time but we are all very proud of what he achieved.”
The 10-time Group 1 winner may have failed to add another top-level success to his CV after his runaway win in the Jebel Hatta in January, but he only enhanced his claims as one of the world’s best in a Saudi Cup for the ages when he fell a neck short of Japan’s Forever Young.
“His win in January was great and he was only beaten by probably the best dirt horse in the world in Saudi Arabia,” Shum added. “Plus, it was only Romantic Warrior’s first start on the surface.”
When asked whether Romantic Warrior would return to Riyadh next season, Shum admitted a shot at redemption and the $20 million purse was definitely a tempting proposition. But, the trainer said he and owner Peter Lau will plan on a race-by-race basis after November’s G2 Jockey Club Cup (2000m) and December’s G1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin.
“We’ll start him off in November in the Jockey Club Cup and then in December for the Hong Kong Cup,” Shum said. “After that, we’ll have to see.
“Going back to Saudi could happen, or he could go to Dubai as well like this season, but it really all depends on how he runs in November and December. He’ll be an eight-year-old next year so we’ll really have to be careful and judge it race by race.”
While Lau has shown his love for travelling his pride and joy to Australia, Japan and the Middle East over the past two seasons, the option to remain in Hong Kong next year and scoop the healthy Group 1 prize money remains an attractive alternative.
If Shum and Lau decide to stay on home soil with Romantic Warrior, the son of Acclamation will likely have the 2000m division again at his mercy, especially given the first three home in April’s G1 QE II Cup (2000m) were overseas raiders who had failed to get the better of the seven-year-old previously. ∎
