Romantic Warrior outlasts Voyage Bubble in Gold Cup thriller: ‘He’s the undisputed champion’ | HK Racing

Romantic Warrior outlasted Voyage Bubble to claim his sixth Group One in an epic renewal of the HK$13 million Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The first clash between champion galloper Romantic Warrior and emerging star Voyage Bubble lived up to the hype, with the pair staging a two-horse war for most of the straight.

Sent off the $1.65 favourite, Romantic Warrior and superstar jockey James McDonald edged ahead of Voyage Bubble and Zac Purton at the 250m and held on late to win by a neck.

Nimble Nimbus was more than three lengths behind in third, while Straight Arron ran on solidly from well back in the field for fourth.

Romantic Warrior became just the fourth galloper to conquer Hong Kong’s quartet of 2,000m majors after going one better than last year when he ran second to Golden Sixty in the Gold Cup.

Designs On Rome, Vengeance Of Rain and River Verdon are the others to have won the Hong Kong Derby, Group One QE II Cup, Group One Hong Kong Cup and Gold Cup.

McDonald labelled Romantic Warrior “the undisputed champion” after recording his sixth win from seven rides on Danny Shum Chap-shing’s stable star.

“His tenacity, will to win is phenomenal – like I’ve never ridden before,” McDonald said.

“He deserves all the accolades he gets. I can’t stress how much of a privilege it is to ride him.”

All eyes were on early tactics with Romantic Warrior drawn wide in barrier 11 and Voyage Bubble in seven, but McDonald sent the former forward to settle him in a perfect spot third on the rail.

Any fears of Romantic Warrior being held-up on the inside were put to bed when McDonald hooked him around the heels of the leader, Sword Point, early in the straight.

Purton tracked McDonald’s every move before making his run out wide on Voyage Bubble on the turn.

“I actually was in the mindset of just giving him a chance early, to be honest with you,” McDonald said. “I suppose instincts kicked in and [I] just went with the flow.

“I was mindful obviously that [Voyage Bubble] was having his second time at the 2,000m and [Purton] committed early, so it was a really good ride.

“My thinking was that I was going to be stronger late, so I just let him build through his gears under his own steam and he got there really easily. He’s unreal, he just keeps surprising me – an unbelievable horse.”

Shum revealed his pre-race concerns about Romantic Warrior’s wide draw.

“I had a big concern because I didn’t think they would let him in and push him three or four deep,” Shum said.

“I talked to James this morning. I said ‘give him his chance and if you jump good, you can push him [forward] and put him inside’. James is very smart, he knows what to do.”

Romantic Warrior will chase a third QE II Cup triumph on April 28 before another overseas trip, with the Group One Yasuda Kinen (1,600m) at Tokyo in June on Shum’s agenda.

“I’d like to put him in the QE II and then the owner, Peter [Lau Pak-fai], he always loves to send his horses to Japan, so the Yasuda Kinen is my aim to go in June,” Shum said.

“That’s a mile. To be honest, a mile in Japan, I think it’s similar to 1,800m. I think it’s OK.”

Romantic Warrior boosted his outstanding record to 13 wins from 18 starts and HK$127 million in prize money.

McDonald scored a treble at Sha Tin after also winning on Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s Little Fairy and the John Size-trained Young Champion.

Shum claimed a double after Gorgeous Win continued his impressive start to his career with victory in the Class Three Citi Mortgage Services Handicap (1,200m) for Purton.

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