Rebel's Romance

Twenty years ago, Dubawi claimed his third Group 1 victory in the Prix Jacques Le Marois. On Sunday, Sajir, his third-generation male-line descendant, claimed his own first top-level win, also in Deauville, when lowering the colours of hot favourite Lazzat in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. In TDN on Friday, Ted Voute told Adam Houghton how the team behind Prince Faisal and his homebred Sajir were "quietly quite excited" in the build-up to a race which could seal Sajir's place at stud. Well, they can be loudly very excited now,...

Sunday, Hoppegarten, Germany, post time: 15:40, WESTMINSTER 135TH GROSSER PREIS VON BERLIN-G1, €155,000, 3yo/up, 12fT Field: Cold Heart (Brz) (Alpha), Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}), Narrativo (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Straight (Ger) (Zarak {Fr}), Nastaria (GB) (Outstrip {GB}). TDN Verdict: Godolphin's globetrotting superstar Rebel's Romance has saluted seven times at the highest level and will bid for a repeat success having annexed the 2022 renewal of this contest. He will head postward at prohibitive odds and has little to fear coming back off a repeat third-place finish...

ASCOT, UK -- Two years, two geldings, two King Georges. Francis Graffard has carried all before him in his native France this season and he returned triumphant to Ascot on Saturday with Calandagan his willing accomplice to repeat the success last year of stable-mate Goliath. "I'd prefer to have a very good gelding than a bad colt," the trainer quipped in response to a query as to the missing anatomy of the son of Gleneagles. It is hard to argue with that assertion when scrutinising Calandagan's increasingly impressive race record,...

There is regrettably no three-year-old to lay down a marker for the Classic generation in this year's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but the five-runner contest nevertheless provides an intriguing contest between a select group of the best older horses in training.  The Aga Khan Studs' highly consistent Calandagan (Gleneagles), who landed his deserved Group 1 spoils in last month's Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, is narrowly favoured ahead of the St Leger and Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel (Galileo). Representing the leading stables of France and Ireland, their...

Friday, Ascot, post time: 14:25, THE FLEXJET PAT EDDERY STAKES-Listed, £50,000, 2yo, 7fT Field: A Bit Of Spirit (Ire) (Palace Pire {GB}), Cape Ashizuri (Ire) (St Mark's Basilica {Fr}), Italica (GB) (Sergei Prokofiev, Reciprocated (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), Sirius A (Ire) (Palace Pier {GB}), Time To Turn (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Tricky Tel (GB) (Ubettabelieveit {Ire}). TDN Verdict: Unbeaten and impressive at Nottingham and Carlisle, Reciprocated will be a warm order to continue the momentum in this often-informative race won in recent times by Chindit and Rosallion. A Bit Of...

French ace Calandagan (Gleneagles), G1 Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel (Galileo), globetrotter Rebel's Romance (Dubawi) and star filly Kalpana (Study Of Man) headline the confirmations for Saturday's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Worth a record £1.5m in 2025, the King George is Britain's richest all-aged contest and the most valuable race ever run at Ascot. Francis-Henri Graffard is chasing back-to-back victories following Goliath's surprise win in 2024. This year the trainer will be represented by Calandagan, who gained a deserved Group 1 success in the...

It has been a strangely discombobulating week in some respects. It started in Westminster last Monday with the All-Party Parliamentary Group issuing its stark warning of the triple threat to the industry posed by potential betting duty harmonisation, affordability checks and an overdue Levy reform. This came on the back of an industry update in Newmarket the previous week at which the TBA chairman Philip Newton warned of a potential catastrophic collapse in the supply chain of young Thoroughbreds in Britain. Then, stepping through the golden gates of Royal Ascot,...

Friday, York, post time: 15:45, BOODLES YORKSHIRE CUP-G2, £192,200, 4yo/up, 13f 188yT Field: Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Sweet William (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), Alsakib (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), Epic Poet (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). TDN Verdict: For so long a top-class mile-and-a-half specialist, the dual Breeders' Cup Turf hero and seven-times Group 1 and Grade I winner Rebel's Romance tries something different here and a five-pound penalty probably won't prove any kind of stop on his superior talent. Ballydoyle's Continuous was disappointing last...

Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) launches his 7-year-old campaign in defence of his title in Saturday's US$2.5-million G3 H.H. The Amir Trophy in Qatar, where he will face seven other rivals that own nothing close to the resume amassed by the Godolphin homebred. Having defeated a pair of Japanese raiders, including the third-placed and re-opposing Satono Glanz (Jpn) (Satono Diamond by {Jpn}) by a convincing three-length margin 12 months ago, Rebel's Romance landed Group 1s in Hong Kong, Germany and America, where he took out the GI Breeders' Cup Turf...

Only a courageous runner-up effort behind 'TDN Rising Star' and 3-year-old male Eclipse finalist Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes this past August stood between Brookdale Racing Inc, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and a perfect season in 2024. But the enormously talented dark bay filly was utterly dominant against her own sex in 2024 and became the first female since Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) in 2011 to take home the coveted Horse of the Year statuette...

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin was honored with the Eclipse Award as the outstanding owner in North America for the fifth consecutive year and seventh overall, and for the fourth time in a row was also crowned North America's outstanding breeder during Thursday's ceremonies.  Godolphin-owned runners posted 104 victories from 460 starts (22.6%) during the year and their runners finished in the top three in 52% of their appearances while earning better than $20 million. Horses bred by Godolphin bankrolled $23.2 million and no fewer than 10 Grade...

For the fourth consecutive year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin topped the list of leading individual breeders in North America in 2024, with earnings of $23,205,149. Runners listed as bred by the operation made 1,161 starts for a record of 226 wins, 169 runner-up efforts and 186 thirds. No fewer than 10 Grade I races in North America in 2024 were taken by Godolphin-breds, led by Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who won his second Breeders' Cup Turf in three years and is a finalist for the Male...