A lot can change before next season’s Four-Year-Old Classic Series, but Romantic Gladiator has at least worked his way into the conversation.
Owner Peter Lau Pak-fai’s now-famous turquoise and white colors return to Happy Valley on Wednesday night with the Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained three-year-old chasing back-to-back wins.
Romantic Gladiator was unbeaten in two starts for William Knight in England before arriving in Hong Kong and had gone winless through his first four runs for Shum, but his form had been building and Zac Purton’s first ride helped turn that progress into a win.
Sent off the even-money favorite, Romantic Gladiator scored by three-quarters of a length from Fivefortwo, with All Round Winner a length and a half away in third.
The win lifted Romantic Gladiator six points to a mark of 69, and another victory on Wednesday would likely have him starting next season in the mid-70s, giving Shum some room to plot a pressure-free path to the Classic Series.
Purton said there was plenty to like in the win given how much Romantic Gladiator still has to learn.
“He’s quite aggressive, he really wants to fight,” Purton said. “During the run, he hasn’t quite learned how to relax and settle yet, so he’s done a good job.
“He feels like he’s developed and filled out a little bit more. There’s not a heap of him when you sit on him, so to travel as strongly as he does and still compete as well as he has, I think that sort of bodes well for his future.
“When he learns to relax and strengthens up, there’s every chance he could take another step forward.
“He’s got the break coming too, which is coming at the right time. He’s showing something and now he gets to have a bit of a rest after this. He’s already got a bit of a rating, so Danny doesn’t have to be in too much of a hurry with him next season either.”
Romantic Gladiator is one of several strong chances for Purton at Happy Valley. With seven meetings left, the champion jockey sits on 133 wins for the season, five short of matching last term’s tally of 138.
Another is the John Size-trained Spirit Of Peace, with Purton hoping for better luck after the five-year-old finished fourth on his return to Class 4.
The stewards’ report noted Spirit Of Peace was severely checked near the 500m, held up around the home turn and again had difficulty obtaining clear running near the 100m.
“The horse in front of me lost ground quickly at the top of the straight and came back in my face,” Purton said. “I lost my momentum and rhythm. He did a really good job to pick back up and finish the race off like he did. That was a good effort.”
Spirit Of Peace jumps from barrier three after drawing gate 10 last start, but Purton said the inside draw still has to be used carefully.
“You don’t want to bustle him up too much,” he said. “He likes to be left alone and if you try and have him too close, he doesn’t finish the race off, so you just have to have him where he’s comfortable.
“Of course you’d like to try and use the barrier as much as you can, but you can’t have him out of his comfort zone at the same time.”
Sure to be one of Purton’s better-fancied rides is the David Eustace-trained Vivacious Win, who took 11 starts to win a race but did it in style, bolting in by five lengths.
“He got into the right spot, nice rhythm, everything fell into place for him,” Purton said. “He hadn’t shown much willingness to attack the line previously, so it was a bit of a surprise that he was able to gap the field like he did.
“Maybe he’s turned the corner, and he’s going to need to turn that corner to handle the rise in the handicap.”
Vivacious Win has been raised 10 points for that five-length win and returns on a mark of 57.
