Danny Shum and Peter Lau have some thinking to do regarding Romantic Warrior’s spring campaign after the Hong Kong Jockey Club confirmed changes to quarantine protocols mean the superstar galloper now has the option of competing on home turf at Champions Day on April 27.
That had been off the table due to a required 60-day stay in another country, plus a two-week post-import quarantine, for horses returning to Hong Kong after competing at the Saudi Cup fixture in Riyadh on February 22. But a change to the protocols means Romantic Warrior could now attempt to land a fourth consecutive win in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Sha Tin’s Champions Day card, or attack the G1 Champions Mile on the same day.
“The landscape has changed quickly in the last 24 hours and the bottom line is, horses that ran in Saudi Arabia at the Saudi Cup meeting can now run in Hong Kong on Champions Day,” the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Head of Racing Product, Greg Carpenter, told Idol Horse.
Shum and Lau, Romantic Warrior’s sporting trainer and owner, are focused wholly on the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan on April 5 for now. A repeat win in the G1 Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo on June 8 has been mooted as a possible next stop thereafter, but a Champions Day run might enter consideration.
“Me and Peter want to see how he performs in the Dubai Turf and then we will make a decision,” was Shum’s cautious response to the news.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club benefitted from a similar outcome last autumn after going through a process with the relevant government departments at home and abroad, which enabled horses that contested the G2 Bahrain International Trophy in Bahrain on November 15 to go on and compete at the Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) on December 8.
Spirit Dancer and Calif, first and third in the Bahrain race, competed at the HKIR and they also went on to the Saudi Cup meeting. Both now have the option to take in the triple-Group 1 Champions Day meeting, which also features the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
The same can be said for Japan’s top-class filly Ascoli Piceno, winner of the G2 1351 Turf Sprint in Riyadh who has the option of the G1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo on May 18, but could instead head to Sha Tin for the Champions Mile or Chairman’s Sprint Prize, should connections choose to look that way.
The change to the quarantine protocols for horses coming out of Saudi Arabia – following on from the Bahrain and South Africa quarantine protocol changes last year – is the latest example of racing authorities and government departments working together in a way that widens the sport’s international scope.
Horses being able to race out of a major event like the Saudi Cup, into the Dubai World Cup meeting and then also into Hong Kong’s Champions Day is particularly important to the Jockey Club with its World Pool formula promoting high-class horse racing globally.
“We’re hoping this will have immediate benefit, but the important thing is long term, that that barrier has been removed,” Carpenter said.
Idol Horse also contacted the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Dr. Ken Lam, who has worked with the Hong Kong Government’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to work through the new protocols, about the exact details and timeframes involved. He responded that he was unable to provide those specific details until “after our consultation with the government authority” ∎
