LAST Friday saw a range of graded contests at Meydan with Charlie Appleby and Godolphin predictably enjoying success.

Appleby suffered a reverse in the nine-furlong fillies and mares Group 2 Balanchine when Mickael Barzalona steered second favourite English Rose to a two and a half length win over odds-on favourite Sapphire Seas. The winner, an Irish-bred daughter of Frankel, had won her two races at two and she quickened clear readily here.

The Group 2 Singspiel Stakes was another switch around for Charlie Appleby. He saddled three with Ottoman Fleet the short-priced favourite but he could only finish eighth with success going to the second string in Naval Power and Mickael Barzalona again. The winning four-year-old had been among the top two-year-olds of 2022 but was sidelined after a January Meydan win last season.

The six-runner Group 3 UAE Oaks on dirt went to the odds-on favourite in Manama Gold for trainer Fawzi Abdulla Nass and jockey Adrie de Vries. The American-bred daughter of Star Guitar is unbeaten in her three Meydan runs.

Odds-on favourite Siskany took the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy over a mile and six under William Buick, beating outsider Sea Stone by a length with stable companion New London over two lengths back in third. It was the Dubawi six-year-old’s second win of the spring.

Tadhg O’Shea took the Listed Al Bastakiya on dirt on the favourite Killer Collect for trainer Bhupat Seemar.

ROMANTIC Warrior enhanced his status as one of the world’s premier middle-distance runners with a gripping victory in the HK$13 million Group 1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup over 10 furlongs at Sha Tin last Sunday,

The Irish-bred son of Acclamation became only the third horse since the turn of the century to win all three of Hong Kong’s top-level 10-furlong contests – the Hong Kong Gold Cup, QEII Cup and Hong Kong Cup.

Danny Shum’s champion will now bid for a fourth big win, for an unprecedented third QEII Cup win, having already won the Group 1 W. S. Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in October and a second Longines Hong Kong Cup in December before adding a sixth Group 1 success last week under James McDonald.

Having drawn the outside of 11 runners, McDonald crossed to the rails on Romantic Warrior after two furlongs and then was stalked by Zac Purton on Voyage Bubble until the field approached the turn. While Purton fanned into the clear, McDonald angled between runners to challenge.

After a battle in the straight, Romantic Warrior gradually edged out the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup winner.

“He is unreal, he just keeps surprising me – an unbelievable horse. He’s the undisputed champion. He deserves all the accolades he gets.”

Romantic Warrior posted his 13th win from 18 starts and boosted his prize money to more than HK$127 million after being purchased by owner Peter Lau at the 2022 Hong Kong International Sale for HK$4.8 million.

Romantic Warrior was picked from his breeders Corduff Stud draft by Michael Kinane on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club in his first season as their selector, realising 300,000gns in Book 2 of the 2018 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. His owner Peter Lau purchased him at the HKJC International Sale for the equivalent of €550,000