HK's top earning racehorse Romantic Warrior retires

Hong Kong's racing superstar Romantic Warrior has been forced into retirement after the racehorse sustained a leg injury in training last week.

The retirement comes just days before Hong Kong's new racing season gets underway in Sha Tin.

8-year-old Romantic Warrior leaves the track as a record-breaking racehorse, having amassed an unrivalled amount of 288.7 million dollars in prize money.

In a social media post, the Hong Kong Jockey Club says Romantic Warrior underwent further detailed scans and assessments at its veterinary hospital before the decision was made to retire it.

The champion racehorse will spend the next three months at the Conghua racecourse just outside Shenzhen under close supervision by the club's veterinarians before moving to his permanent retirement home.

The Jockey Club will also hold a farewell ceremony for the racing legend at a Sha Tin race meeting later this season.

Romantic Warrior's owner Peter Lau says he made the difficult decision to end Romantic Warrior's career after consulting veterinarians from the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Romantic Warrior bowed out at the very top, having been unbeaten in all six of his starts last season.

Trained by Danny Shum, Romantic Warrior won 24 of his 31 career starts.

Three of 15 Group One victories came overseas in Australia, Japan and the UAE, cementing the Hong Kong-based racehorse's stature among the greats of international horse racing.