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Romantic Warrior is a fussy eater, which his trainer Danny Shum has learnt the hard way.
The champion horse, a raging favourite for this year’s Cox Plate, loves his muesli mix from America, but when a replica feed was given to him while in quarantine in Hong Kong, the five-year-old gelding didn’t want a bar of it.
Danny Shum (left), poses with his champion horse, Cox Plate favourite Romantic Warrior.Credit: Getty Images
Romantic Warrior then flew to Werribee, where Australia’s quarantine rules are even stricter, and when the Americans wouldn’t share the recipe, Shum, from Hong Kong, thought his dream of getting Romantic Warrior to the Cox Plate in tip-top order was over. How would he get the horse to eat?
He tried another Australian-made mix for Romantic Warrior, who liked it a bit more than the “airport food” at Hong Kong, but it just wasn’t the same.
“It’s just as a human being, if you always eat that kind of food, and change that feed for you, you won’t eat,” Shum says.
“At that time, he left six pounds [of feed one night], four pounds [the next night], he’s hungry. He’d eat a little bit and [decide] ‘I don’t like the feed’.
“Every morning in Hong Kong, the first thing I do is check his feed. He always finishes all the feed, he loves to eat. But that time, you change the feed … if he doesn’t eat, I don’t eat. If he’s not happy, I’m not happy too.”
Thankfully, it’s all been sorted now. The Australian government has approved the feed to come to Werribee from Hong Kong, and Romantic Warrior is back on his tucker, just days out from his first run in Australia in Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes.
“The feed was shipped to Werribee here, 48 packs. It will be easier for Romantic Warrior and [his stablemate] Romantic Charm as well,” Shum says.
“This is his usual feed. He loves this feed. He’s eating very good now.”
Romantic Warrior is back eating his favourite food after turning down some replica muesli mixes.Credit: Getty Images
Shum says Romantic Warrior’s racing weight is 1155 pounds (523 kilograms), and while a gallop at Flemington on Sunday, and multiple CT scans as part of Racing Victoria’s strict vetting requirements to prevent further deaths of international horses during the spring carnival, have shown the horse lost weight, he’s confident the horse will be ready for the challenges ahead.
“He’s not 100 per cent, I can guarantee to you guys. He’s 85, 90 per cent, but he will improve. That’s exactly what James McDonald said after his gallop,” Shum says.
“He loves James McDonald. He loves to show he’s a talent, that he can race. He wants to tell James McDonald, and you can see the last 800 metres [in that gallop], ‘Ah c’mon, I can race’.
“I do think he’s fit enough to handle [the run on Saturday]. I never doubt his potential.”
Romantic Warrior prepares for track work at Flemington ahead of the spring carnival.Credit: Getty Images
Shum has been involved with travelling superstars before. In 2000, he was assistant to Ivan Allan, trainer of Fairy King Prawn, who became Hong Kong’s first overseas group 1 winner when he triumphed in the Yasuda Kinen in Japan.
Later that year, after returning home, Fairy King Prawn – who Shum rode every day in track work – tried to chase down wonder mare Sunline in the 2000 Hong Kong Mile, only to be narrowly beaten by the two-time Cox Plate champion.
Shum is just as excited about what Romantic Warrior can do abroad.
McDonald, who won last year’s Cox Plate on Anamoe, rode Romantic Warrior to victory at Sha Tin in April, in the QEII Cup over 2000 metres, and Shum says there’s no other rider he’d want on the horse.
Asked to sum up Romantic Warrior, Shum said: “He’s a superstar.”
Especially when he can munch on his favourite food.
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