Rebel's Romance

Godolphin's globetrotting  Rebel's Romance (Ire) (g, 6, Dubawi {Ire}--Minidress {GB}, by Street Cry {Ire}) entered Saturday's $2.5-million G3 H.H. The Amir Trophy as one of three Group 1 winners in the field of 11, yet still had something to prove. Winless since causing a mild surprise in the 2022 GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland, the homebred failed--for a variety of reasons--in two tries in America last summer, but hinted at a return to his best with an eye-catching victory at Kempton in December. He was a somewhat unexpected entry...

Officials at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club announced in early 2023 that the purse for the country's richest Thoroughbred test, the H.H. The Amir Trophy, would be receiving a boost from an even $1-million to $2.5 million. A strong renewal won by the Hong Kong-based former Ballydoyle galloper Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) helped to ensure that the 2400-metre contest would be accorded Group 3 status for the 2024 running, and the Amir Trophy has accordingly attracted the most competitive field in the history of the race. Shadwell's Israr...

Her sire won the 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Turf in similarly soft underfoot conditions not far away at Monmouth Park, and George Krikorian's War Like Goddess (English Channel) found the ease in the ground very much to her liking, motoring down the center of the waterlogged course to successfully defend her title in Saturday's GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct. With Junior Alvarado at the controls for the first time, the $30,000 OBS June bargain lingered towards the back of the pack through the early exchanges, racing in the...

The parade of graded stakes races this Saturday is like a Christmas tree laden with presents. Towards the end of the celebration, as the wadded paper congregates, there will be a customary wistfulness that slowly sets in. We never want it to end. With 17, yes 17, graded races on the docket--nine of those have Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' status--it is going to be a splendid day to receive as Belmont at the Big A, Keeneland Race Course, Woodbine Racetrack, Gulfstream Park, Hastings Racecourse and Santa Anita Park...

Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was to be rerouted to next Saturday's GI Arlington Million at Colonial Downs after going down in the July 30 GII Bowling Green S., will reportedly miss the race, a tweet from Godolphin read. The 5-year-old, whose previous trip to America resulted in a 2 1/2-length victory in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Turf, missed a prep for this year's G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic and was forced to train up to the 2410-meter feature, only to finish 11 lengths back of the world's...

Jockey Richard Mullen, who was unseated from GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf winner Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in Sunday's GII Bowling Green S., remains hospitalized Monday in Albany, NY. Mullen, who reportedly has "a broken collarbone, thumb, ribs and three fractured vertebrae" thanked well-wishers via social media Monday afternoon. Godolphin also rleased a statement early Monday morning that read: "Richard Mullen was unseated from Rebel's Romance during the Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga on Sunday, 30 July. He received immediate medical attention at the course and was assessed to...

For the second straight year, Newmarket-based trainer Charlie Appleby was honored with the Derby Award as 2022's champion flat trainer by the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA). The 47-year-old Appleby so far this year has been represented by 150 winners and 225 seconds from 478 starters-a 31 percent win rate-and his runners have earned £6,225,397. Among those victories were 18 European Group winners-three Group 1s-including a one-two finish in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas with Coroebus (Dubawi [Ire]) and Native Trail (Oasis Dream {GB}), a first victory for the...

Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) began his 4-year-old season as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's best hope for the G1 Dubai World Cup, what with his towering success in the G2 UAE Derby as a sophomore. When things on the main track went belly-up over the winter at Meydan, trainer Charlie Appleby and team were compelled to call an audible and switched the gelding--clearly bred to handle the turf--to that surface. The decision has paid off in spades, as the lanky dark bay ran his grass record to five...

NEWMARKET, UK--The Breeders' Cup has special resonance for Charlie Appleby, who trained his first Grade I winner at the championships not four months into his tenure as trainer for Godolphin back in 2013. That important first milestone was provided by Darley homebred Outstrip (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) in the Juvenile Turf, and if the American race fans didn't pay much attention to Appleby that day, they do now, for it was a win which set the tone for the years to follow, not just at the Breeders' Cup, but...

With the leaves on the turn and rugs back on the horses after the hottest summer in many a year, it may feel as though we are coming to the end of the season but by juvenile Group 1 contests in Europe we are really only halfway through. So far, No Nay Never's sons Little Big Bear (Ire) and Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never), both trained by Aidan O'Brien, have claimed three between them - the Phoenix S., Prix Morny and Middle Park S., while the Joseph O'Brien-trained Al Riffa...

Newmarket's three-day Cambridgeshire meeting's titular event, the annual nine-furlong cavalry charge boasting a purse of £200,000, is overshadowed by two Group 1 championships on a bumper Saturday of juvenile action at Headquarters and beyond. First of the elite-level heats is the six-furlong G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S., with ante-post markets pointing to an effective match between Coolmore and Westerberg's Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Rockcliffe Stud's homebred Trillium (GB) (No Nay Never). In reality, it is an open edition which also features G2 Lowther S. victrix Swingalong (GB) (Showcasing...

With 84 winners from 479 North American starts, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin LLC amassed earnings of $17,403,204, to establish a new single-season record, according to statistics released Monday by Equibase Company LLC. The previous mark of $12.2 million was set in 2012 by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. Additionally, runners sent out by trainer Brad Cox earned a record $31,832,345 in 2021, narrowly surpassing the $31.1 set in 2019 by trainer Chad Brown. Leading the charge for Godolphin in 2021 was 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit), a...