Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (Group 1)

ROMANTIC Warrior sealed his place among Hong Kong’s equine immortals with triumph in the HK$13 million Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday. He became only the third horse to clinch the Triple Crown joining River Verdon (1993/94) and Voyage Bubble (2024/25).

Settling fourth behind Numbers and Romantic Thor, Romantic Warrior worked into the race under James McDonald before he stoked up the eight-year-old deep into the straight and overhauled Numbers at the 50m mark before edging clear to win by half a length.

Numbers fought to hold off Deep Monster as Romantic Warrior rattled home in 22.77s, extending his win range at Group 1 level from a mile to a mile and a half.

There was a short anxious moment as when coming to challenge, Romantic Warrior had appeared to lean in, hindering the run of the Japanese challenger Deep Monster, but the result was confirmed.

Trainer Danny Shum said afterwards: “I’m such a lucky guy, lucky trainer – because I can train Romantic Warrior.

“Before the race we already set up the plan – put him to sleep, let him relax, and try to hit the front. He hit the line in the last 400m, so James has done a great job, he’s top-class jockey.”

Claiming a HK$10 million Triple Crown Bonus, Romantic Warrior boosted his world-record prize money earnings to HK$288.7 million (over £27 million) for owner Peter Lau with Group 1 wins in Australia, Japan and Dubai.

Deserved

Now the winner of 24 races from 31 starts, McDonald said: “He’s a Triple Crown winner, he thoroughly deserved it. He didn’t need to win this to be that. I think this is the cherry on top – he should be Horse of the Year this year and I think he stamped that by winning the Triple Crown.” He will have competition for that title from Ka Ying Rising.

McDonald was later handed a suspension for careless riding following Romantic Warrior’s historic win and the Japanese were reportedly not too happy with the findings.

Stewards found McDonald guilty of shifting Romantic Warrior into the running line of Deep Monster about 300 metres from the finish, forcing that runner to check to avoid contact with eventual second placegetter Numbers.

Deep Monster finished third, but despite finding the interference, the official placings still remained unchanged.

McDonald received an eight-day suspension, set to commence on June 3rd along with a fine of HK$120,000.