THE recent announcement of the retirement of Acclamation (Royal Applause) from stallion duties was followed, far too quickly, by the news of his death. It was so appropriate that he should be paid a further tribute with the 17th racecourse success for his outstanding son Romantic Warrior, the six-year-old taking the honours for a record third time in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin.

In doing so, Romantic Warrior takes on the mantle of being the biggest prizemoney winner in the history of racing, this figure increasing to an astonishing £17,891,000. He has only been beaten on five occasions, finishing second three times at Group 1 level, and fourth twice, once in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington.

Those 17 victories include nine Group 1 races, mostly in Hong Kong but also in Australia and Japan, a pair of Group 2 wins and the same number of listed successes.

His record is truly phenomenal, and such is his superiority over 10 furlongs that he went to post against an international field comprising challenges from Japan, Ireland, Britain, France and Hong Kong at odds of 1/10! Owner Peter Lau Pak Fai and trainer Danny Shum have a true legend in their care, and the gelding is only rising seven.

There are more mountains to climb, even for a champion that jockey James McDonald calls “the horse of a lifetime”, and with major prizes tempting connections to travel him to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, he could amass winnings that would put him into another orbit, and take a lifetime or two to even challenge. As he enters the record books, how proud a boast is it to be able to say he is an Irish-bred?

The Group 1 Hong Kong Cup is not the only race Romantic Warrior has won three times. He has also been first past the post on that number of occasions in the Group 1 Queen Elizabth II Stakes, and annexed their Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup, a race in which he was beaten a head by Golden Sixty, whose earnings Romantic Warrior overtook with his latest success. In Japan, he captured the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen, and in Australia Romantic Warrior’s stunning Group 1 Cox Plate win was in their most prestigious race, even if the Melbourne Cup is the most famous.

Corduff Stud

Romantic Warrior was bred in Co Kildare by the Egan family’s Corduff Stud and the octogenarian American Tim Rooney. Corduff’s father and son team of James and David, along with the latter’s wife Henrietta, took one of the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Month awards last year, and it was truly deserved. Doubtless they, along with Rooney who has been a family friend for many years, will be shortlisted again for the December vote when that is announced early in 2025.

Romantic Warrior was picked out from the Corduff Stud yearling draft in 2019 by Michael Kinane on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC). This was in his first season selecting for them. The then colt realised 300,000gns in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at Newmarket, Kinane having to head off a determined challenge from Jake Warren.

Malcolm Bastard then had the gelding for 10 months of breaking and preparation before Romantic Warrior headed to Manton after the HKJC changed some of their operations.

Peter Lau purchased him at the HKJC International sale for the equivalent of €550,000. This represented good value, given that public sales catalogues in Hong Kong show a breakdown of the pre-sale costs for all the lots, and €490,000 had been spent on Romantic Warrior until he was offered for sale.

Blandford Bloodstock

Romantic Warrior is a son of Folk Melody (Street Cry), and the Egans and Rooney bought her at Goffs for €82,000 through Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock. They immediately got their money back when the foal she was carrying, Melodic Charm (Exceed And Excel), sold for 85,000gns as a yearling. She won twice, and in December 2022 she sold to China Horse Club, with an attractive covering by Dark Angel (Acclamation), for 270,000gns.

At the time of her purchase, Folk Melody had a filly on the ground, Pennywhistle (Iffraaj), and after winning at two she was culled at three for 130,000gns. Pennywhistle’s first produce is a three-year-old son of Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact), named Spielman, and he is a dual winner in France this year. Folk Melody’s fourth produce is a four-year-old son, Operation Gimcrack (Showcasing), who has been placed twice.

Operation Gimcrack’s failure to win did not help when Corduff offered his full-brother for sale twice. Named End Of Romance, he was retained and put in training with Karl Burke. He has won two of his three starts this year, in Tim Rooney’s colours, and his third visit to a sale resulted in a third no sale, being retained at 380,000gns in October. This year Folk Melody’s yearling colt by New Bay (Dubawi) sold to Blandford Bloodstock for 450,000gns and has been named Le Samourai. In the spring Folk Melody was covered by Havana Grey (Havana Gold).

Folk Melody

The Godolphin homebred Folk Melody won a 16-runner maiden at Newmarket over seven furlongs at two, but failed to add to that in four starts after transferring from Saeed bin Suroor to Charlie Appleby. The emergence of Romantic Warrior is spearheading a resurgence in this female line.

Folk Melody is one of five winners from seven runners and 11 foals of racing age out of Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes winner Folk Opera (Singspiel). Her twelfth is a yearling filly by Pinatubo (Shamardal). Folk Opera also won the Group 2 Prix Jean Romanet, the last staging before it was upgraded to Group 1 status. The latest winner out of Folk Opera is the four-year-old Folk Star (Le Havre), successful twice last year.

After her retirement to the paddocks, Folk Opera visited Street Cry (Machiavellian) for her first two seasons at stud, and Folk Melody was born the year after her full-sister Opera Lily. The latter was trained by Kiaran McLaughlin but never ran, sold in the summer of 2013 for a mere $20,000, and was later covered that year by Exchange Rate (Danzig). The resulting colt, born in Argentina, was named Mr Bailetti, and his victories in Peru included the Group 1 Gran Premio Nacional Augusto B Leguia at three.

Proportional

There is one other Group 1 winner that crops up in the first four generations of Romantic Warrior’s pedigree, and she is the Beat Hollow (Sadler’s Wells) filly Proportional. The best of her sex and generation at two after her victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac, Proportional is a stakes-producer at stud.

Proportional’s own-sister Vote Of Ten (Beat Hollow) raced just five times, won the Group 3 Lodge Park EBF Park Express Stakes, and was placed in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.

Always one of the most popular sires with breeders in Ireland and elsewhere, the influential Acclamation continued to be popular right up to the end.

His sons include a plethora of successful stallions, such as Dark Angel and Mehmas, his daughters include the 6,000,000gns mare Marsha, a record that still stands, while he is the maternal grandsire of Group 1 winners Broome and Eqtidaar. This year he had a yearling colt sell for 500,000gns, and yearling fillies realise €600,000 and 470,000gns.