Romantic Warrior will look to become the second Hong Kong-trained horse to win in Australia in Saturday’s Group One Turnbull Stakes (2,000m), 21 years on from the city’s only other runner in the Flemington feature.

Romantic Warrior is out to emulate 2005 Group One Australia Stakes (now the William Reid Stakes) victor Cape Of Good Hope by travelling from Hong Kong to Australia and winning.

To do so, the three-time Group One winner will need to finish three spots better than the David Hayes-trained Helene Vitality did in the 2002 edition of Turnbull Stakes.

In his third run of a five-race Australian mission that culminated in a 21st-placed finish in the Group One Melbourne Cup (3,200m) on the first Tuesday in November, Helene Vitality battled gamely as a $61 chance to finish just over two lengths adrift of the great Northerly in a star-studded contest.

Behind the victorious Northerly – a two-time Group One Cox Plate (2,040m) winner – were Dash For Cash and another dual Cox Plate champion, Fields Of Omagh, while the David Hall-trained Pentastic filled fifth position.

“It was a pretty good race and he ran well. His Turnbull run was very solid to get that close to those horses,” said Hayes, who was at the helm for Fields Of Omagh’s second Cox Plate after he returned to Australia following his first Hong Kong stint.

“I can tell you categorically he was a good horse but not a patch on Romantic Warrior.

“He ran second [in the Group One Dubai Sheema Classic (2,400m)], so he had international form, and he was placed in some good races in Hong Kong and won a good race here, but he was not in the same class as Romantic Warrior.”

Hayes admits Helene Vitality struggled to cope pre-race in his subsequent Australian assignments, something which could prove Romantic Warrior’s biggest hurdle as he looks to win the Turnbull Stakes before turning his attention to the Cox Plate, Australasia’s weight-for-age championship, on October 28.

“Helene Vitality was OK that day, but from then on, he just went crazy before the races. He couldn’t cope with the big days,” Hayes said.

“Romantic Warrior has got to show he handles the float trip, handles the atmosphere, handles being tied up for three hours. He’ll have a big learning curve for the day.”

Richards marvels from afar

While Jamie Richards is in the midst of attempting to extract one more big season out of Hong Kong’s one-time top sprinter, Wellington, he is marvelling from afar as a pair of speedsters he used to train dominate conversation during the Australian spring.

While reigning Group One TJ Smith Stakes (1,200m) winner I Wish I Win is among the favourites for Sydney’s mega-rich The Everest on October 14, Imperatriz is lighting up the track in Melbourne.

On winning Friday’s Group One Moir Stakes, Te Akau Racing’s Imperatriz broke the Moonee Valley 1,000m track record she set just three weeks earlier.

It was the five-year-old mare’s sixth Group One win, the first of which came in the Levin Classic (1,600m) under the tutelage of Richards.

“It’s incredible to think we had Imperatriz and I Wish I Win in the stable at the same time. They’ve gone to Australia and done such a good job as they’ve got a bit more mature,” Richards said.

“Imperatriz was a superstar when we had her. As a three-year-old, she was running over a mile because that’s where the big money races are, and when you get an opportunity to bring them back in trip – much like I Wish I Win as a four-year-old – then they just go bang.”