Overview
- Jockey James McDonald, newly crowned the Longines World’s Best Jockey for a third time, said the seven-year-old gives him such confidence that he never feels the horse will lose.
- The field numbers seven, with Japan’s Bellagio Opera and France’s Quisisana highlighted as the main overseas threats alongside Galen and Rousham Park.
- Romantic Warrior resumed after 232 days off and fetlock surgery to win the Group 2 Jockey Club Cup, clocking a sharp final 200m in 21.73 seconds.
- The gelding is Hong Kong’s highest-earning racehorse with more than £22 million (about HK$217.7 million) in prize money and top-level wins across multiple jurisdictions.
- The international meeting proceeds on a scaled-back basis following the deadly Tai Po high-rise fire, as fellow local star Ka Ying Rising starts a short-priced favorite in the Hong Kong Sprint from stall one.