Rebel's Romance (IRE)

Rebel’s Romance began his career with open-length victories on the synthetic main track at Kempton Park in England in 2020.

Shipped to the Middle East for his 3-year-old season, the Godolphin homebred Dubawi gelding opened 2021 with a head victory in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial Sponsored by Hamdan Bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal.

Rebel’s Romance disappointed in his next start when he shipped to Saudi Arabia for the Al Rajhi Bank Saudi Derby, but he bounced back with a big effort in the Group 2 UAE Derby Sponsored by Emirates NBD March 27 at Meydan. Rebel’s Romance proved much the best in the UAE Derby, seizing command in early stretch and pulling away to a facile victory in 1:56.28 for 1 3/16 miles in what turned out to be his final start as a 3-year-old.

After unplaced finishes in his first two starts of 2022 in Dubai, Rebel’s Romance returned to Europe and put together a four-stakes winning streak that was capped by a Group 1 win in the Preis von Europa Sept. 25 at Cologne Racecourse in Germany. 

Rebel’s Romance was next sent to Keeneland Race Course for a start in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf along with stablemate Nations Pride. After settling near the rear of the field, he rallied stoutly through the stretch under James Doyle to win the $4 million, 1 ½-mile Turf going away – his fifth consecutive stakes win at the distance for trainer Charlie Appleby.

After a banner 2022 season, little went right for Rebel’s Romance in his first three races in 2023. The now 5-year-old gelding finished seventh in his first start of the year, albeit against elite competition, when beaten by 11 lengths in the $6 million Longines Dubai Sheema Classic on the Dubai World Cup undercard at Meydan. Given some time off after the race, he returned to the United Stakes in July for the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga, where he clipped heels with another runner and unseated his rider. He returned that fall to finish fourth in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes in New York and then closed out the year with a win in a listed stakes back in England on an all-weather track at Kempton Racecourse.

Returning for a 6-year-old campaign, Rebel’s Romance was back at his best form in his first two starts of 2024, winning the H.H. The Amir Trophy, a Group 3 stakes, in Saudi Arabia and then capturing the prestigious Group 1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 30. The globe-trotting star then traveled to Hong Kong and picked up another Group 1 win in the Champions & Chater Cup, before returning to Godolphin’s stable in England. He could not hold on after taking a narrow lead in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July, finishing third, but then shipped to Cologne Racecourse in Germany and tallied a second victory in the Group 1 Preis von Europa.

Next up for Rebel’s Romance: another start in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, this time at Del Mar on Nov. 2. With William Buick riding, the gelding sat just off of the pace set by longshot Cabo Spirit before taking over in early stretch of the 1 ½-mile race. He was kept to task in the final furlong and lasted to win his second Longines Turf over fast-closing Japanese invader Rousham Park. Although only one of Rebel’s Romance’s wins in 2024 came in North America, his second career Breeders’ Cup Turf score convinced enough Eclipse Awards voters to honor him as champion turf male by a close margin over Johannes.

Stakes-placed Minidress, by Street Cry, is the dam (mother) of Rebel’s Romance. Second dam (maternal grandmother), Short Skirt, was a multiple group stakes winner who placed in the Epsom Oaks.