James McDonald to steer Romantic Warrior in Dubai Turf as The Championships loom

James McDonald was missing from the rescheduled Tancred Stakes race-day on Tuesday and he will be a glaring absentee from Day One of The Championships at Royal Randwick on Saturday when he will, instead, quite understandably, take the reins aboard the Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior in the US$5 Dubai Turf at the magnificent Meydan racetrack in Dubai.

The team of trainer Danny Shum, James McDonald and Romantic Warrior have all been nothing short of brilliant in the managing of their different roles in the horse’s remarkable career.

McDonald has ridden Romantic Warrior in thirteen races for eleven wins, nine of which have come in Group 1 company. Not only that but rubber-stamping their record of excellence is the fact that those Group 1 wins were achieved in four racing precincts … Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, and Dubai.

It’s called taking on the world … the ultimate way of obtaining true, undisputed champion status.

That Romantic Warrior has achieved, courtesy of the combination of his outstanding talent and an amazing will to win. At one stage he won four Group I’s in a row, all by the narrow margins of a nose, a short-head and a neck (twice).

That neck margin did go against Romantic Warrior in his last start when he went down narrowly to dirt track specialist Forever Young. The fact that Forever Young placed in both the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year underlines the heady level of performance that Romantic Warrior has reached and maintained,

Not surprising then that Romantic Warrior is a hot favourite for the Dubai Turf on Saturday … as Forever Young will be when he lines up for the US12 million Dubai World Cup.

Both races should be a ‘must-watch’ for any racing enthusiast.

It is always a treat to watch Romantic Warrior in action, knowing that he will give his all.

It is all happening a long way away … a Hong Kong trained horse racing in Dubai but, make no mistake, with the J Mac factor on board, it will be a win very much acclaimed and celebrated in Australia if Shum, McDonald and Romantic Warrior add the Dubai Turf to their list of Group 1 successes.