Star jockey James McDonald likes the upside with Romantic Warrior, who over the weekend was able to take out the 2022 Group 1 Hong Kong Cup.

McDonald was able to reinforce the claim as the World’s Best Jockey recognised by Longines by riding home the short-priced favourite in strong style.

Romantic Warrior stormed to the lead at the turn and was able to burst away in commanding style, putting 4.5 lengths on the remainder of the field.

“He surprised me as well (Romantic Warrior) in terms of his improvement from first-up to second-up,” McDonald told SEN Track's Giddy Up with Gareth Hall.

“I thought gee he is going to have to improve to take on the Japanese (horses) in this race and he did that very well, I didn’t think he had that much improvement in him in terms of lengths but he was phenomenal.

“He executed the race beautifully and came with a well-timed run down the middle of the track but to be fair I don’t think the Japanese were at their best, I reckon they might’ve just had an off day but take nothing away from Romantic.

“He is a proper horse, a lightly raced horse and he is only going to get better but the world is his oyster.”

Listen to James' full chat with Gareth Hall on SENTrack's Giddy Up below.