Romantic Warrior is retired. Voyage Bubble is not the horse he was. Between them they had Hong Kong's two most valuable divisions locked up for years, and suddenly both categories are wide open.
That is far from a crisis, in fact it might be the best story of the season beyond Ka Ying Rising’s sprint heroics.
Three of the five richest races in Hong Kong are run over 2000 meters: the Hong Kong Cup at HK$40 million, the QE II Cup at HK$30 million and the Derby at HK$28 million. Almost a third of the city's open-age Group One prize money is at 2000m. There is a reason Romantic Warrior retired as the highest earner the sport has known: he was dominating the richest patch of ground in racing.
The Derby is the race meant to restock those middle-distance ranks. But as Hong Kong's buying shifted toward privately purchased griffins (PPGs) in recent years – horses bought out of a flashy trial rather than an established form line – the Derby field filled with them. These trial winners tend to be sprinter-milers stretched to the Derby trip. Romantic Warrior, an unraced International Sales Griffin (ISG), debuted over 1200 meters at Happy Valley; but he is the exception, not the rule, in more ways than one.
Last season's Derby crop doesn't look like it will provide the numbers, just a horse called Numbers.
Trainer Mark Newnham told The Standard that Derby winner Invincible Ibis will be aimed at miles again and may not get back to 2000 meters until later this season.
But Derby runner-up Numbers is the old model: a Queensland Derby placegetter in the Werther and Eagle Way mold, proven over ground. Speaking to The Standard between Romantic Warrior's scan and his retirement, Frankie Lor said the Hong Kong Vase remained the priority — before adding, "unless you know Romantic Warrior is being retired?"
The Vase might have been seen as the softer target, but it is worth HK$14 million less — and the Cup, then the Gold Cup beyond that, for the first time since before COVID, have nobody's name already etched on them.
The rest of the 2026 Derby class might not offer much. Third-placed Stormy Grove bled from both nostrils in May and hasn't raced since. Fourth-placed Patch Of Cosmo hasn't been under saddle since a tendon injury that month. Beyond well-beaten favorite Little Paradise, who proved that afternoon he is a miler, if that, there is nothing.
The void is real, but this season's Derby crop could provide the answer in time. The private purchase (PPs) – the tried horse from Australia or Europe, the type John Moore built a career on – seems back in vogue, helped by the club's incentives for higher-rated imports and by owners who can get back to the track. The first three from the Queensland Derby – and five of the top ten – are now at Sha Tin.
It helps to remember how spoiled we've been. Romantic Warrior was one in a million. Before him, Golden Sixty. Before him, Beauty Generation. Voyage Bubble was closer to a normal champion of his division – very good, a Triple Crown winner no less, but beatable.
Hong Kong has had it good for a long time. The horses for the HKIR posters picked themselves.
Not now. Ka Ying Rising's name headlines but the two other divisions are wide open. The stone is sitting there in the middle of the Sha Tin straight waiting for somebody to pull the sword out of it. The fun part this season will be finding out who that could be.
