A midweek winner at Happy Valley last night provided trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing with the perfect aperitif before a big weekend for his stable star Romantic Warrior at Sha Tin.
Shum struck at the city track and moved to 14 wins for the season when Win Method recorded his first win at the eighth time of asking under Harry Bentley.
After settling in fourth from gate eight, the three-year-old kept on well in the straight to win going away at the line.
“I’m very happy with him,” Shum told The Standard. “He ran an OK race when he finished seventh last time out and he built on it well. It was a good ride also.”
The Class 4 victory over 1,200m was a timely success for Shum, who has started the season in promising fashion, as an important weekend approaches for his stable’s flagbearer.
The world’s highest-earning racehorse, Romantic Warrior, is set to make his seasonal reappearance in this Sunday’s Group 2 Jockey Club Cup.
While a Group 2 contest might sound like light work for the 10-time Group 1 winner, the 2,000m race marks the first time Romantic Warrior has raced since he suffered an injury following his brave Middle East campaign last term.
His task is also made tougher by the presence of last season’s Triple Crown hero, Voyage Bubble.
“He’s in good form,” Shum said of Romantic Warrior. “All the reports from the jockey have been positive and I’m looking forward to him getting back to the track.
Romantic Warrior had a screw inserted into an injured joint in May after a fantastic campaign in the Middle East, which saw him win the Group 1 Jebel Hatta before falling agonizingly short in the world’s richest race, the Group 1 Saudi Cup, and the G1 Dubai Turf.
“I think he’s as he was last year,” Shum said. “He’s been doing really well after the surgery and all his work afterwards suggests he’s back to where he was. He holds his condition very well.
“I’m always excited when he runs and I’m confident this weekend. I think he can run very well.”
Elsewhere at Happy Valley, David Eustace and Jerry Chau Chun-lok teamed up with a quickfire double courtesy of Apolar Fighter and 14.5 chance Podium.
