Written by Nathan Exelby
Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Hong Kong
Sixth Group 1 for Romantic Warrior
Cox Plate winner Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) notched a sixth career Group 1 victory when he took out the Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000 metres) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
It was part of a winning treble for Champion Jockey James McDonald, who has been aboard the Danny Shum-trained champ in five of his major wins.
McDonald also won on Little Fairy (Scissor Kick) for Ricky Yiu and Young Champion (Ire) (Zoustar) for John Size.
Romantic Warrior has won 13 of his 18 starts and in winning this race, joined Vengeance Of Rain (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and Designs On Rome (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) as the only horses this century to claim Hong Kong’s three most sought-after 2000-metre contests – the QEII Cup, the Hong Kong Cup and now the Hong Kong Gold Cup.
The 6-year-old will now be given the chance to win the QEII Cup for a third time this April, before Shum considers a possible tilt at Japan’s Yasuda Kinen in June.
From the Street Cry (Ire) mare Folk Melody (Ire), Romantic Warrior was a HK$4.8 million (AU$931,000) purchase at the Hong Kong International Sale and has now amassed earnings topping HK$127 million (AU$24.6 million). He was originally purchased by the HKJC at the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale (Book 2) for 300,000gns (AU$608,700).
Japan
Maurice son wins Japan Group 2
Matenro Sky (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) landed his biggest career success to date when winning the G2 Nakayama Kinen (1800 metres) in Japan on Sunday.
The Mikio Matsunaga-trained 5-year-old is now the winner of five of his 17 starts. He had previously won at Listed level and been Group 3 placed.
Matenro Sky was a ¥36,000,000 (AU$360,000) JRHA Select Sale purchase in 2019. He now has earnings of approximately $1.8 million.
Win Marvel takes Hanshin Group 3
At Hanshin on Sunday, Win Marvel (Jpn) (I’ll Have Another {USA}) was successful in the G3 Hankyu Hai (1400 metres).
Trained by Masashi Fukayama, this was his sixth career win and fourth at stakes level, with his best result to date being his win in the G2 Hanshin Cup in December.
