James McDonald is confident Romantic Warrior can reign supreme over his Group One QE II Cup (2,000m) rivals when the six-year-old superstar bids for a historic hat-trick of wins in Sunday’s HK$28 million contest.

The Kiwi ace took his record aboard the Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained son of Acclamation to six victories from seven starts with a brave win over Voyage Bubble in February’s Group One Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m).

While McDonald has not been able to sit on Romantic Warrior since the galloper’s sixth Group One triumph, the 32-year-old says he has kept a close eye on his partner in crime during his preparation.

“He looks to be training well from afar and all reports have been very good,” McDonald said. “I’ve kept an eye on him and watched all the trackwork. Danny seems very happy with him, so I’m looking forward to Sunday.”

Romantic Warrior is one of four gallopers to notch a pair of QE II Cup victories, but he will aim to surpass Nazakat (1975 and 1977), Viva Pataca (2007 and 2010) and Eishin Preston (2002 and 2003) when he steps onto the Sha Tin turf on Sunday.

McDonald is optimistic he can return to Sydney with more Hong Kong silverware in his luggage but is under no illusion about the quality of Romantic Warrior’s opposition.

“We’ve obviously got very stiff competition with Prognosis, Dubai Honour and the Derby winner [Massive Sovereign], who is probably the unknown factor,” McDonald said.

“But [Romantic Warrior] is a brute and he knows how to get the job done. Whatever you throw at him, he seems to thrive.”

Romantic Warrior has enjoyed a dominant campaign, collecting a monumental Group One Cox Plate win (2,040m) Down Under before fending off strong challenges in the Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) and Gold Cup.

He will now aim to repeat his success over Japanese raider Prognosis and British challenger Dubai Honour, who finished second and third, respectively, in last season’s QE II Cup.

“I just admire Romantic Warrior,” McDonald said. “He’s as tough as they come and I’ve got great respect for him. You know he’s going to do his absolute best every time you go to the races.”

McDonald has three Group One wins in Hong Kong this term and will reunite with January’s Stewards’ Cup (1,600m) victor Voyage Bubble in the Group One FWD Champions Mile.

After a below-par effort in last month’s Group One Dubai Turf (1,800m) at Meydan, Voyage Bubble will take aim at Golden Sixty on return to his preferred course and distance.

“Voyage Bubble is a great horse and a mile is a very good trip for him,” McDonald said. “Golden Sixty is the world champ and he’ll be hard to beat, but you never know. [Golden Sixty] has had a long lay-off and Voyage is very fit, so he’ll give his best.”

In the absence of the injured Lucky Sweynesse, McDonald will team up with improving four-year-old Howdeepisyourlove in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m).

“He’s a young horse on the rise and he looked to trial extremely sharply recently,” McDonald said. “From my eye that looked like the best he’s trialled. It looks like an open race and it’s probably time for a little bit of a changing of the guard in the sprinting ranks, so I’m looking forward to it.”