Romantic Warrior (foaled March 18, 2018) is a multiple Group 1 winning champion thoroughbred racehorse that was born in Ireland and trained in Hong Kong.

He also won the Yasuda Kinen in 2024, being the first foreign-trained horse in 18 years to win at the Tokyo Racecourse since Bullish Luck in 2006, also in the same race.

[2][3] Notable performances by Romantic Warrior include: Foaled in Ireland in 2018, the son of Acclamation was sourced by the former top jockey Michael Kinane and sold at the Hong Kong International Sale in 2021 to Peter Lau Pak Fai for HKD 4.8M (AUD 814,236).

[13] On 20 October 2021, he made his debut at the Happy Valley Racecourse in a Group IV 1200m race ridden by Joao Moreira.

He won by half a length to extend his winning streak to five but the sequence was terminated in the next race in the series the Hong Kong Classic Cup by California Spangle.

Danny Shum, the trainer of Romantic Warrior after the race remarked that he still had great potential to win the BMW Hong Kong Derby.

Against overseas challengers such as Prognosis, Danon the Kid, Geraldina from Japan, and Dubai Honour, Romantic Warrior finished the 2000-meter race with first place at 2:01:92.

It took an absolute weapon (Golden Sixty) to run him down last time but he’s a great 2000m horse and I really enjoy riding him.After the race, which became Romantic Warriors' 10th win, Shum was interested in taking the steed overseas to prestigious competitions.

His ex-boss Ivan Allan won the Yasuda Kinen with Fairy King Prawn and he wished to emulate the success.

Despite success in previous matches, Romantic Warrior under Zac Purton in the Chater Cup lost to the Russian Emperor, returning to Hong Kong after an expedition to Qatar.

[17] With a two-month hiatus following the end of the 2022/23 racing season, the Romantic Warrior team was fully prepared for the steed's first overseas expedition as it safely arrived in Australia in mid-September.

Shum's biggest goal was always on the Cox Plate and the Turnbull Stakes was just a lead-up race to see how the left-turn and the Melbourne surface could be managed.

He stably remained in that position until the final curve when he galloped and beat Mr Brightside by a nose with Alligator Blood third.