Rebel's Romance

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...

Godolphin's Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of the G2 UAE Derby in March, will be forced to miss Saturday's GI Belmont S. due to an infection in a hind leg, according to a tweet from Godolphin Tuesday morning. "We hope this is only a minor setback and we look forward to seeing him back on the racecourse in the near future," the tweet read. With his UAE Derby victory, Rebel's Romance had qualified into the field for the May 1 GI Kentucky Derby, but connections decided to bypass that...

Godolphin's G2 UAE Derby winner Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) will bypass the May 1 GI Kentucky Derby and instead target the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown, the GI Belmont S. on June 5. Rebel's Romance, who is ineligible for the European Classics as a gelding, had been assured a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs after earning 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his 5 1/2-length UAE Derby win on Mar. 27. Godolphin has two other colts in the current top 20 by Kentucky Derby...

Any discussion of the world's leading turf sires must include Darley in Europe's Dubawi (Ire), but for all the success he has had with his runners on the grass, his strike rate on the dirt--particularly in Dubai--is nothing short of stunning. The sire of World Cup winner Prince Bishop (Ire) (and Monterosso {GB} on the Tapeta), Dubawi has also accounted for such horses as Hunter's Light (Ire), Benbatl (GB) and Mubtaahij (Ire). The latter took out the 2015 UAE Derby, and as the sun began to set Saturday at Meydan,...

The first three home in last year's Red Sea Turf Handicap have all returned to Riyadh for this $2.5 million staying contest over 3,000 metres. The trio is led by the George Strawbridge homebred Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}), whose victory over Mekong (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) was followed through the French summer with wins in the G3 Prix de Barbeville and G2 Prix Kergorlay.  Freddy Head, who arrived in Saudi in time to see the 7-year-old have an easy canter on Thursday...