Deep Monster strong but not strong enough vs. Romantic Warrior to place third in Champions & Chater Cup in Hong Kong; Rousham Park finishes sixth

JRA veteran Deep Monster finished a valiant third place in the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup despite various challenges at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Sunday (May 24).

The 8-year-old trained by Yasutoshi Ikee was right on the heels of the legendary Romantic Warrior down the stretch but had his path blocked by the eventual winner with about a furlong to go.

Deep Monster, under Joao Moreira, tried to regroup but it was too little, too late against the Danny Shum-trained Romantic Warrior who held off runner-up Numbers by half a length and the Japanese raider by another length and a half to capture his 15th Grade 1 title.

Also taking a crack from the JRA, the Hiroyasu Tanaka-trained Rousham Park finished sixth in the nine-horse field.

With the win, the 8-year-old Romantic Warrior became only the third horse in history to capture the Hong Kong Triple Crown after River Verdon and Voyage Bubble. Hong Kong’s Triple Crown also consists of the Stewards’ Cup and the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup.

Romantic Warrior’s winning time was 2 minutes, 26.67 seconds over the 2,400 meters on going listed as good to firm. The gelding received a HK$10 million bonus for accomplishing the feat, taking his world record earnings to HK$288.7 million.

Knowing that opportunities to stand a chance in the face of such greatness like Romantic Warrior are so rare, Ikee bit his lips over the way the race unfolded during the final straight which left him to think - what if. Romantic Warrior seemed to have enough in the tank to win regardless, but Deep Monster also certainly looked to have some potential to pull off what would have been the mother of all shockers on this day.

“It’s disappointing we couldn’t win but given how hot it was today, I thought he ran really well,” the trainer said. “(Assistant trainer Yutaro Amamoto) brought Deep Monster to Hong Kong and whipped him in shape all on his own and on top of that, we had the support of so many people who helped us send him out there today in the fine form that he was in.

“He took the bit early because the pace was slow and we were cut off on the straight by the winning horse, which was disappointing because those two factors denied us the win. But it also inspired us to want to come back to Hong Kong again and win here to settle the score.”

The 7-year-old Rousham Park, ridden by Hugh Bowman, was within striking distance rounding the final turn but could not keep when it mattered. He began to slip with 300m to go and crossed the line more than five lengths out of first.

Tanaka tried to focus on the positives for his horse ahead of the fall racing season.

“I like to think he was in good condition going into the race but he just seemed like he couldn’t run to his strengths throughout the race,” Tanaka said. “I hope we can address whatever areas we need to address and build on this going forward.”

Official result

Please visit the Hong Kong Jockey Club website for the latest news and further information.