'It was a courageous decision' - Mick Kinane hails Romantic Warrior's connections' bravery after Cox Plate success

Mick Kinane made history when he steered Vintage Crop to a memorable success in the 1993 Melbourne Cup for Dermot Weld, and his fingerprints are on another ground-breaking winner in Australia three decades later via Romantic Warrior's triumph in Saturday's Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

Romantic Warrior became the first Hong Kong-trained horse to land the prestigious race, while he is also just the second horse from the region to win a Group 1 in Australia after Cape Of Good Hope's Australia Stakes success in 2005.

Kinane has been active in sourcing horses for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and bought the Acclamation gelding from Corduff Stud for 300,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2019. He was moved on for HK$4.8 million (£503,000/€585,000) at the Hong Kong International Sale in June 2021 and went into training with Danny Shum.

After his victory in the A$5m (£2.61m/€3m) contest, Romantic Warrior has now won 11 of his 16 starts, earning almost £10m in prize-money. He has also won three Group 1s in Hong Kong.

Romantic Warrior: a four-time Group 1 winnerCredit: Hong Kong Jockey Club

Kinane, who rode Vintage Crop to become the first northern hemisphere-based horse to win the Melbourne Cup, said: "It was a fantastic result for Hong Kong racing on the international stage. It was a courageous decision to take it on and it's great to see it pay off. It was risky for Danny and the owner to take him to Australia, given there's so much on offer in Hong Kong."

James McDonald had to play his cards late aboard the 13-5 favourite at Moonee Valley, getting up in the dying strides to beat Mr Brightside by a short head.

"It was a great result for them and also the World Pool, given it brought such strong interest from Hong Kong in the biggest weight-for-age race in Australia," added Kinane. "James was very good on him; he knew what he wanted to do and carried it out very well.

"I thought I was fortunate to buy him at the time, and he's proved to be very lucky all the way along. It's a case of so far, so good. It's probably all downhill from here! These horses are a rarity, so we'll enjoy them while we have them."

Read more:

'I can’t believe it, I thought I got beat' - Romantic Warrior battles hard to land thrilling Cox Plate 

Ancient Wisdom slashed for Derby after Futurity success and will be 'even better' next year according to William Buick 

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