2nd September 2026 – (Hong Kong) Eight-year-old champion Romantic Warrior will leave Hong Kong’s turf after the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced on Tuesday that owner Peter Lau Pak-fai and trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing have decided to retire the globe-trotting galloper following further diagnostic imaging on his forelegs.
Last season brought the first dual horse kings in local racing history, Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior sharing the spotlight. The club said Romantic Warrior underwent detailed scans and assessment at its world-class equine hospital, after which Lau and Shum discussed the findings with veterinary staff and agreed retirement was the right course. A farewell ceremony will be held on a Sha Tin race day later this season, with details to follow.
Romantic Warrior will remain at Conghua Racecourse for the next three months under close veterinary monitoring before moving to a post-racing home with support from the club’s RESTART Racehorse Aftercare Programme, which provides comprehensive care once a racehorse’s competitive career ends.
Shum’s stable star returned strongly last season after surgery on his left fore fetlock, again dominating middle-distance and staying races. This season he won the Longines Hong Kong Cup and the FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup for the fourth time at 2000 metres, an unprecedented double in those Group One events. The previous season he swept all three Triple Crown legs—the Stewards’ Cup at 1600 metres, the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup at 2000 metres and the Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup at 2400 metres—becoming only the third horse after River Verdon in the 1993-94 season and Voyage Bubble in 2024-25 to complete the series.
Like Ka Ying Rising, Romantic Warrior took five Group One wins last season and pushed his world prize-money record beyond HK$288.74 million. He was named Best Middle-distance Horse for the fifth straight year, Best Stayer for the current season and Best Mile Horse after his commanding Stewards’ Cup victory. His career closes as one of Hong Kong racing’s defining chapters, from Derby glory to overseas Group One wins and a farewell now shaped by injury rather than the racecourse.