Romantic Warrior will dodge January’s Group One Al Maktoum Challenge (1,900m) and begin his hunt for Middle Eastern mega-riches on the turf, trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing confirmed to the Post on Friday morning.

Shum met with owner Peter Lau Pak-fai and jockey James McDonald on Thursday, with the trio nailing down the most concrete plan yet for Romantic Warrior’s daring overseas mission.

While Romantic Warrior is entered for January 24’s Al Maktoum Challenge and connections seriously considered running him on dirt before his audacious Group One Saudi Cup (1,800m) raid, they have decided the Group One Jebel Hatta (1,800m) on the same day is the better option.

“The owner doesn’t want to run him on the dirt first, he will go straight to the dirt in Saudi. The Jebel Hatta will allow him to get used to the environment,” said Shum of Romantic Warrior, who has raced exclusively on turf.

Romantic Warrior is booked to depart Hong Kong on December 17, with the eight-time Group One winner’s effort in February’s US$20 million Saudi Cup to determine whether he does push onto the Group One Dubai World Cup (2,000m) on the dirt as previously suggested, or instead tackles the Group One Dubai Turf (1,800m).

“It’s the plan that works for me, the owner and the jockey. All three races James McDonald will ride,” Shum confirmed.

With Dubai World Cup night not until April 5, Romantic Warrior and some of Shum’s team could be away for more than four months.

“It’s going to be very busy. There’s a lot of work to do to prepare two horses – Romantic Charm will go as well [as a companion horse],” said Shum.

“I haven’t been to Dubai for 25 years and I have never been to Saudi. My team will go for four or five months, so there is a lot of work to do.”

Before shifting his attention abroad, Romantic Warrior will bid for a third consecutive victory in next weekend’s HK$40 million Group One Longines Hong Kong Cup (2,000m), where a win will see him leapfrog Golden Sixty and become the world’s highest-earning racehorse.

Romantic Warrior stretched his legs over 800m in an all-weather gallop on Friday morning, while a host of local Longines Hong Kong International Races runners took to the trials soon after.

Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s trio dominated the first heat, with Beauty Waves winning the 1,200m dirt trial with Taj Dragon third and Galaxy Patch fourth.

“With Galaxy Patch, I told Vincent [Ho Chak-yiu] just to switch him off in the early stages, save ground on the corner and he seemed willing to finish off well enough in the straight, which is what we wanted,” said Ng.

Crossing the line further back in that trial were Invincible Sage, Beauty Eternal and Ensued, while Red Lion, Ka Ying Generation, Helios Express and Howdeepisyourlove tuned up for their respective feature assignments in later hitouts.