Shane Dye: Romantic Warrior a class above Australia’s dwindling weight-for-age horses
Unless a freak three-year-old emerges, legendary hoop and Hong Kong form Shane Dye jockey can’t see anything beating Romantic Warrior in Australia.
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Hong Kong guru Shane Dye has declared the Cox Plate is at Romantic Warrior’s mercy, saying the superstar is clearly a class above Australia’s dwindling weight-for-age class at present.
The legendary jockey, who is now a respected Hong Kong form analyst, said Romantic Warrior isn’t as good as wonder horse Golden Sixty, but he doesn’t need to be following the retirement of Anamoe from Australia.
READ: ROMANTIC WARRIOR $4 FOR COX PLATE — YOU’RE KIDDING!
Dye points to Romantic Warrior’s thrashing of two-time Australian Group 1 winner Dubai Honour at Sha Tin in April as a pointer and believes only a freak three-year-old could stop the Danny Shum-trained beast from making his presence felt Down Under in the spring.
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“A good guide with Romantic Warrior is Dubai Honour, which beat the best horse in Australia in Anamoe and beat him very comfortably in the Queen Elizabeth,” Dye told Racenet.
“He is better than anything in Australia at present, unless a very good three-year-old comes along.
“Australia isn’t producing good weight-for-age horses at present, the weight-for-age class is just gone – you go back to the 80s or 90s and it was unbelievable, but now there is nothing.
“He doesn’t have to be that good to beat them, you’re really relying on a superstar three-year-old coming out of the woodwork because there’s nothing else around, I couldn’t even tell you a good weight-for-age horse at the moment.
“Anamoe is gone, what else is there now? There’s no Super Imposes, Rough Habits or Better Loosen Ups around.
“There’s no doubt Romantic Warrior’s best distance is 2000m and he should get around Moonee Valley because he was a star at Happy Valley, it is a very tight turning, up and down track.”
Purchased by the Hong Kong Jockey Club at the 2019 Tattersall’s October Yearling Sale, Dye believes Romantic Warrior’s European breeding, along with the backing of James McDonald only adds to his credentials in Australia.
The Hong Kong Derby winner fell short in Horse Of The Year honours last week, but Dye said there is no shame in running second to Golden Sixty.
“He’s not as good as Golden Sixty, but he’s not far behind him,” he said.
“There wouldn’t be a horse in Australia that could beat Golden Sixty, Anamoe could have versed him 10 times at Randwick over a mile and Golden Sixty would have beaten him 10 times, that’s just a fact.
“It’s no disrespect to Romantic Warrior to say Golden Sixty is just a touch better.”
Romantic Warrior commands $4 favouritism with TAB for the Cox Plate.
Originally published as Shane Dye: Romantic Warrior a class above Australia’s dwindling weight-for-age horses
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