Historic Voyage: Hong Kong's underrated hero steps into the limelight

By Michael Cox 

Voyage Bubble has spent his career in the shadows of champions both past and present but on Sunday he gets a chance to take center stage. 

First it was Golden Sixty that consigned Voyage Bubble to a supporting role in the eyes of global racing fans. Then Romantic Warrior’s overseas exploits quite rightfully made him the most famous Hong Kong horse, perhaps of all-time. Now it is Ka Ying Rising that features in the highlight reels when Hong Kong racing is beamed around the world. 

On Sunday, even with Voyage Bubble on the brink of becoming the first horse to complete Hong Kong racing’s Triple Crown in more than 30 years, Romantic Warrior will be getting attention without racing when a “welcome home, our global champion” ceremony is held in the parade ring. 

But if Voyage Bubble can complete Hong Kong racing’s rarely attempted Triple Crown with victory in the Standard Chartered G1 Champions & Chater Cup on Sunday he will have achieved something that the aforementioned trio of modern greats did not attempt, let alone achieve. 

Golden Sixty twice won the first two legs of the Triple Crown – the G1 Stewards’ Cup at 1600 meters and the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup over 2,000m – in 2021 and 2023 but connections opted against testing their horse at 2,400m in the third in final leg.  

Voyage Bubble’s owners have dared to dream that their horse can join River Verdon as the only Triple Crown winner and it isn’t just to chase the HK$10million bonus on offer for any horse that can win the three races. 

“Of course we want to make history,” Voyage Bubble’s trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai told the Standard. “When you look back at the record books it is something that people will remember. They will see Voyage Bubble’s name there and they will know he was a great horse.” 

To prepare Voyage Bubble for his step up to 2,400m for the first time Yiu has had to adjust his training style to ensure his horse conserves energy for jockey James McDonald in the early and middle stages of the race. 

“We have had to try and get that stamina and fitness into him, but it is mostly about getting him to relax,” Yiu said. “He is a very intelligent horse though and that is probably his greatest strength – he listens to his jockey.”