Unbelievable (Justify), a full-brother to the undefeated Cartier champion 2-year-old colt City of Troy and a veteran of five European starts when racing as Bertinelli for Coolmore and Aidan O'Brien, will become his boom sire's first starter in Hong Kong in the Class 3 Red Packet H. (1600m) at Monday's Chinese New Year meeting at Sha Tin Racecourse.
A son of G1 Fillies' Mile winner Together Forever (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), also the dam of Group 3 winner Military Style (War Front) as well as the latter's full-brothers–the Group 2-placed Absolute Ruler and the listed-placed King of Athens–Unbelievable won his maiden over the Dundalk all-weather in the second of two juvenile appearances last November. A first-up second over a mile and two furlongs at Cork last April, the colt validated 9-2 second favoritism in the London Gold Cup H. at Newbury the following month and was last seen finishing third to subsequent Group 3 winner and G1 St Leger third Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the King George V. S. (Hcp.) at Royal Ascot June 22.
Unbelievable is under the care of trainer Frankie Lor, a former assistant to top conditioners John Moore and John Size and Hong Kong's champion trainer during the 2021/2022 season. He has had a pair of barrier trials, including a running-on fifth Jan. 30 (video) going 1200 meters over the 'all-weather' track, but Lor told the HKJC's Nick Child that preparations have not been entirely straight-forward.
“I wanted to trial him in early December, but he had a temperature, so I had to wait a little bit,” Lor said. “Of course, the trial was a bit short for him, so that's why we start him over 1600 meters, but more ground later on.”
Unbelievable will race in the colors of the Frankie Lor Fu Chuen Trainer Syndicate and would have been imported with the hopes of making the gate for Hong Kong's richest domestic prize, the HK$26-million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) Mar. 24. Monday's race is clearly a jumping-off point, but Lor is hopeful that Unbelievable will do enough between now and then to earn a berth in the field.
“You can see his form is over 200 meters and further, but he's rated 80, so if he can pick up a few points, hopefully he can get into the Derby,” he said.
Unbelievable has drawn gate one in a field of 14 in the ninth race of the program at 4:40 p.m. local time. Derek Leung has the riding assignment.
Unbelievable is one of four sons of Justify currently registered in Hong Kong. The others are Pray For Mir (Aus) (ex Javaja), an A$950,000 Inglis Easter yearling who was perfect in two starts at the Sunshine Coast in Australia prior to his import; Call Me Supreme (Aus); and Miles Away (Aus), a son of SW & GISP Stopshoppingmaria (More Than Ready), who has also produced SW/GSP Mo Shopping (Uncle Mo) and MGSW Always Shopping (Awesome Again).
Waipiro (Ire) (Australia {GB}), who ran sixth in the G1 Derby in the UK earlier this year, sustained a tendon injury to his right foreleg last week and is uncertain to make the Hong Kong Derby in March, trainer John Size told the South China Morning Post.
Bred by Shane Molan, the Siu Pak-Kwan runner won the G3 Hampton Court S. after his Derby effort, leading former trainer Ed Walker to describe him as the “perfect horse for the Hong Kong Derby”.
“I don't have a plan now because he's got a tendon injury,” Size told the paper regarding the now-gelding. “A tendon's a tendon. The recovery time depends on the horse.”
Waipiro's older half-brother Waikuku (Ire) (Harbour Watch {Ire}), a winner of the G1 Stewards' Cup (twice) and G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup, ran second in the HK Derby in 2019.
In a finish reminiscent of the 2014 BMW Hong Kong Derby, in which the longer-winded Designs On Rome (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) got the better the more distance-limited Able Friend (Aus) (Shamardal) in the dying strides, Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) managed to reel in a very brave California Spangle (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) to win the HK$24-million domestic centrepiece Sunday afternoon at Sha Tin Racecourse. Money Catcher (NZ) (Ferlax {NZ}), thrice placed at group level in New Zealand, parlayed a perfect inside trip into a third-place finish.
The speedy California Spangle, who was trying the metric mile and a quarter for the first time off a front-running tally in the Hong Kong Classic Cup over a furlong shorter last time, pinged the gates from stall 10 and did some work to cross down onto the fence, but settled nicely from there as they turned down the back. S J Tourbillon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) raced closest to the leader passing the 1200-metre point, while Money Catcher was allowed to drop in and Karis Teetan had the second-elect Romantic Warrior midfield and between horses at halfway.
Rocket Spade (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), the 2021 G1 New Zealand Derby hero, loomed three wide outside of the pacemaker with three furlongs to race, but California Spangle was still going reasonably well and was the first to face the judge. Steered out into about the four path, the favourite was awkward for a stride or two, still in command, but Romantic Warrior was finding his best stride as he went on the attack outside of Mr Ascendancy (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}). Money Catcher boxed on further towards the inside, but the two Irish-breds came to settle it, with Romantic Warrior doing slightly the better work through the line. He is the first Northern Hemisphere-bred Derby winner since the aforementioned future Horse of the Year and four-times Group 1 winner Designs On Rome and is a first Derby winner for Teetan and trainer Danny Shum.
“He travelled a bit the first turn,” said the Mauritian. “I had a nice trail through until the straight and I must say I thought 'God, Zac's horse is going to be hard to get past.' This horse is a little horse, but he's got a big heart and I'm really thankful to everyone–the owner, Danny and his team.”
Shum, who saddled Playa del Puente (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}) to a near-shocking defeat of Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) in 2020, added: “He [Romantic Warrior] deserved to win the Derby, he is a very honest horse and very consistent. Karis did a great job, so I'm very happy. The second horse, California Spangle, also ran very good. The pace was strong and he was still fighting on the line.”
Shum said that the G1 FWD QE II Cup is next on the agenda for Romantic Warrior, a decision surely made easier given that there will be no invitees from overseas due to the pandemic. Tony Cruz will also target FWD Champions Day with California Spangle.
Romantic Warrior was perfect in his first four starts–two in Class 4 at Happy Valley and a pair in Class 3 at Sha Tin–before dashing home to best California Spangle–who was ultimately done in by his widest draw–in the Hong Kong Classic Mile Jan. 30. Roles were reversed in the Classic Cup, as Romantic Warrior was never on the track from barrier 13, while California Spangle dictated terms from a low gate and easily accounted for Turin Redsun (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), with Romantic Warrior a gallant third.
Pedigree Notes:
Romantic Warrior was purchased by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 300,000gns from the draft of David and Henrietta Egan's Corduff Stud at Tattersalls October in 2019 by a team headed up by legendary former jockey Mick Kinane and was prepared for the 2021 Hong Kong International Sale, postponed to June by the pandemic, but for many years held on the eve of the Derby. It was the only of the sale entries that Shum recommended to owner Peter Lau, who went to HK$4.8 million (£444,729/€517,894) for the gelding.
“I would like to thank the Hong Kong Jockey Club as well for bringing this horse into the International Sale,” Shum said. “Actually, the CEO [Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges] also said to me in the stable 'This is the right one', so we picked the same horse.
“Thank you to the owner Peter Lau for really supporting the ISG Sale. He always says, 'You can buy me a good horse, but don't buy me the wrong horse.'”
Other prominent graduates of the Hong Kong International Sale include three-time G1 Hong Kong Mile hero Good Ba Ba (Lear Fan), Mile hero The Duke (Aus) (Danehill) and 'TDN Rising Star' and multiple Group 1 winner Pakistan Star (Ger) (Shamardal), the 2017 Derby runner-up.
Romantic Warrior is the third foal from his dam, a daughter of Folk Opera, whose biggest racetrack success came in the 10-furlong GI E. P. Taylor S. at Woodbine and whose resume also includes a victory in the G2 Darley Prix Jean Romanet. With the Dubai World Cup meeting straight ahead, it is interesting to note that the sires of Romantic Warrior's first two dams each has a World Cup to their credit–Street Cry in 2002 and Singspiel in the weather-delayed second running of the race in 1997.
Folk Melody's last listed produce is a 2-year-old colt of this season named Operation Gimcrack (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), who fetched 160,000gns from Bryan Smart Racing at last year's Tattersalls October Sale.
Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong BMW HONG KONG DERBY-LR, HK$24,000,000 (£2,326,771/€2,772,061/A$4,131,331/US$3,067,112), Sha Tin, 3-20, NH/SH4yo, 2000mT, 2:00.23, gd.
1–ROMANTIC WARRIOR (IRE), 126, g, 4, by Acclamation (GB) 1st Dam: Folk Melody (Ire), by Street Cry (Ire) 2nd Dam: Folk Opera (Ire), by Singspiel (Ire) 3rd Dam: Skiphall (GB), by Halling
(300,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT; HK$4,800,000 HRA '21 HKJUN). O-Peter Lau Pak Fai; B-Corduff Stud & T J Rooney; T-Danny Shum C S; J-Karis Teetan; HK$13,680,000. Lifetime Record: 7-6-0-0, HK$24,815,400.
2–California Spangle (Ire), 126, g, 4, Starspangledbanner (Aus)–Pearlitas Passion (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire). (€150,000 Ylg '19 GOFORB). O-Howard Liang Yum Shing; B-M Enright; T-Tony Cruz A S; J-Zac Purton; HK$5,280,000.
3–Money Catcher (NZ), 126, g, 4, Ferlax (NZ)–Warren's Sister (NZ), by Savabeel (Aus). (NZ$13,000 Wlg '18 NZBMAY; NZ$60,000 2yo '19 NZBRTR). O-The Sunflower Syndicate; B-Haunui Bloodstock Ltd; T-Frankie Lor F C; J-Derek Leung K C; HK$2,400,000.
Margins: HD, 2 1/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 27-10, 7-5, 34-1.
Also Ran: Senor Toba (Aus), The Irishman (NZ), Turin Redsun (GB), Crossford (Ire), Fa Fa (NZ), Nordic Sky (Brz), Champion Dragon (Ire), Ima Single Man (Aus), Mr Ascendancy (Ire), Rocket Spade (Aus), S J Tourbillon (Ire). Click for the HKJC.com chart, PPs and sectional timing.
The connections of the speedy California Spangle (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) were hardly doing cartwheels after their Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) winner was assigned gate 10 in a full field of 14 for Sunday's HK$24-million BMW Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin Racecourse.
The winner of six of his eight local starts, California Spangle made all in the Feb. 27 Classic Cup, having endured a tough trip when second to Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the Hong Kong Classic Mile back in January. But jockey Zac Purton admits that the 10 hole is not exactly what the team had in mind.
“Unfortunately, we have a number of speed runners drawn inside us who are no doubt going to try and hold their positions,” Purton said. “If I fire him out of the gate from 10 at this start to get across, maybe it gives him that signal it's time to go and he might see that corner and think he's in a 1200-metre race. It could go horribly bad for us, it's a horrible draw for us– but it is what it is.”
Roles were reversed in the Classic Cup, when Romantic Warrior was trapped out deep from a double-digit draw for the entire trip and finished a brave fourth. The Hong Kong International Sale grad fared better this time around in pulling gate eight.
“Last time he did cover a lot of ground, he was the widest horse for the whole race and he still finished off nicely so this time we are in the middle of the track,” said jockey Karis Teetan. “So if we can get a good jump and get him in a decent position, I think he should run the distance no problem and I think he will show us his nice turn of foot this time.”
A course-and-distance winner–a rare commodity in this field–Senor Toba (Aus) (Toronado {Ire}) gets the blinkers on for the first time from gate three. Trainer Caspar Fownes believes the gray can improve on his running-on fifth in the Classic Cup from barrier three, which has produced four Derby winners since 2000.
“We'll always take the stats if they're in our favour and if they're not in our favour, we'll try to change them,” Fownes said. “The horse is going to have the blinkers on for the first time, we took him to the gates this morning, he's starting to know how to jump better and know what we want of him.”
The Hong Kong Derby is carded as the eighth of 10 races Sunday at Sha Tin and jumps at 4.40pm local time (9.40am BST).
