Dubai Honour third as Warrior steals show in QEII

William Haggas runner no match for facile winner at Sha Tin.

British raider Dubai Honour had to make do with minor honours in third as Romantic Warrior successfully defended his crown in the FWD QEII Cup at Sha Tin.

Following a successful winter in Australia with Group One wins in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick, the William Haggas-trained Dubai Honour headed for the Far East bidding to become the first British-trained winner in Hong Kong in over 10 years.

The five-year-old had run at Sha Tin before, finishing a close-up fourth in the 2021 Hong Kong Cup, and having seemingly taken his form to another level this year Haggas had high hopes his charge could provide him with a maiden Hong Kong success.

Ridden by Tom Marquand, Dubai Honour moved nicely in midfield for much of the 10-furlong contest and appeared well positioned behind local favourite Romantic Warrior.

However, he was ultimately unable to go with the brilliant winner and while he stayed on admirable, he was also narrowly beaten to the runner-up spot by Prognosis.

Haggas said: “I’m not putting it up as an excuse, but Tom said the gallop was a bit slow and the ground was a bit quick for him.”

Romantic Warrior, who since his success of 12 months ago had also added the Hong Kong Cup to his impressive CV, was bidding to bounce back to winning ways after being beaten in his last two races by Hong Kong legend Golden Sixty – who earlier in the day had won his third Champions Mile.

On the strength of that form Danny Shum’s five-year-old was a hot favourite to make it back-to-back QEII wins and a jubilant James McDonald was able to stand up in the stirrups and salute the crowd before passing the post, such was his dominance at the line.

McDonald, who is now three from three aboard Romantic Warrior, said: “He’s such a beautiful horse. He’s electric out of the gates and is a push button operator with a great will to win.

“He is so relaxed and put on a spectacular performance. His Hong Kong Cup win in December was huge and will be hard to replicate but he was just perfect today – he’s a star.”

Romantic Warrior proved too good for Dubai Honour at Sha Tin
Romantic Warrior proved too good for Dubai Honour at Sha Tin (Neil Morrice/PA)

Shum added: “I’m a bit relieved to be honest and I would like to thank my stable team and especially Gary Lau his work rider.

“Before his last run the vets had to look at him as he developed a mild fever and since then I’ve checked him every morning.

“I’m now keen to take him to Japan for a first start there in October.”

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