Romantic Thor is back where he started in the ratings after his Group 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap win at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained five-year-old has been reassigned a mark of 82 after leading throughout in the 2,400-meter feature, a 12-point rise that returns him to the same rating he arrived on in Hong Kong in late 2023.
Romantic Thor did not just win from the bottom of the handicap, he did it from outside of the handicap, carrying five pounds more than his mark entitled him to once Matthew Poon Ming-fai’s one-pound overweight was factored in.
The win also gives Shum another possible runner for the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup over the same course and distance on May 24, where Romantic Thor would be up against stablemate Romantic Warrior, Voyage Bubble and Japanese raiders Rousham Park and Deep Monster.
Hugh Bowman is set to ride Rousham Park, back in Hong Kong for a third time after finishing eighth and fifth in the past two editions of the G1 Hong Kong Cup. Joao Moreira takes the ride on eight-year-old Deep Monster, who last won the G2 H.H. The Amir Trophy over 2,400m in Qatar in February.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Classic Cup winner and Derby third Stormy Grove was found to have bled from both nostrils after finishing 22 1/4 lengths eighth behind Sky Jewellery in Race 8 and will be barred from racing for the mandatory three months under the Rules of Racing.
𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓
