He put together a historic first preparation and now Romantic Warrior will have to rewrite the record books again if he’s to win next month’s Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m).

The star four-year-old rose 70 points in the ratings across eight starts in his debut season, winning seven times in a spree that sees him sit below only Golden Sixty, Wellington and California Spangle in the list of Hong Kong’s best horses.

After winning January’s Classic Mile and finishing fourth behind California Spangle in the Classic Cup, Romantic Warrior became the first galloper to win the Hong Kong Derby in his first preparation with his thrilling victory in March.

For good measure, the son of Acclamation added the Group One QE II Cup (2,000m) to his resume before heading off for his hard-earned spell.

Fast forward nearly seven months and Romantic Warrior is getting ready to return in next weekend’s Group Two Jockey Club Cup (2,000m).

The gelding is beginning his preparation later than Danny Shum Chap-shing would have liked after he had a setback in August, with the trainer confirming Romantic Warrior “twisted his leg”.

That mishap cost the galloper a likely run in last month’s Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m), and there was a time when Shum was going to kick off his stable star in the Group Two Jockey Club Mile on November 20 rather than over 2,000m.

“It was hard to tell what to do. He’d have faced California Spangle and Golden Sixty in the Mile, so we’ve moved to the 2,000m because I think the field will be a bit weaker. He can handle going straight to 2,000m. It won’t be easy, but we’ll try it,” Shum said.

The setback leaves Romantic Warrior with the unenviable task of trying to become the first locally trained horse to win the Hong Kong Cup second up since Motivation in 1993.

The John Moore-prepared Motivation achieved the feat back when the Cup was run over 1,800m and it wasn’t a Group One.

As big a task as Romantic Warrior faces to win a Hong Kong Cup poised to be loaded with Japanese raiders, Shum’s decision to run in the Jockey Club Cup rather than the Mile does mean he has some history on his side.

While no horse has won the Hong Kong Cup after having their final lead-up run in the Jockey Club Mile, the Jockey Club Cup has proven a prerequisite to Group One success for local gallopers across the past two decades.

The past seven Hong Kong gallopers to win the HK$34 million Cup have come out of the 2,000m lead-up dating back to Vengeance Of Rain in 2005, who won what was then the International Cup Trial before taking out the big one.

California Memory finished fourth in the 2011 Jockey Club Cup before winning the Hong Kong Cup and went on to do the double in 2012, while Glorious Forever (2018), Time Warp (2017), Designs On Rome (2014) and Akeed Mofeed (2013) parlayed solid lead-up performances without winning into glory in the city’s richest race.

Romantic Warrior will face as many as nine rivals next weekend and his main competition looks to come from two-time Group One winner Russian Emperor, who will reunite with his regular rider, Blake Shinn, after finishing 12th under Lyle Hewitson in the Sha Tin Trophy last month.

Romantic Warrior will have someone a little less familiar on his back, with James McDonald stepping in for the sidelined Karis Teetan.

A history maker in his own right, McDonald could prove an inspired booking by Shum as Romantic Warrior prepares to embark on a season that could leave him sitting among Hong Kong’s greats.