Rebel’s Romance caused a surprise in the Dubai Sheema Classic, in which dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin finished last.
While Charlie Appleby’s six-year-old did win the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2022, he was well beaten in the corresponding race 12 months ago and looked to be up against it in a field stacked with quality.
Along with Auguste Rodin, who is developing an all-or-nothing reputation, there was Emily Upjohn, Spirit Dancer and Japanese challengers Liberty Island and Stars On Earth.
The pace was pedestrian, set by Aidan O’Brien’s Point Lonsdale, but only William Buick on the eventual winner and Liberty Island were keen to stay close to it.
With half a mile to run, that trio had opened up a sizeable gap on the remainder of the field and when Buick kicked on to take up the running well over a furlong out, the writing was on the wall.
A strong stayer at the trip, Rebel’s Romance, who won the UAE Derby back in 2021, galloped all the way to the line, with Shahryar, Liberty Island and Justin Palace, all from Japan, taking minor honours. Emily Upjohn fared best of the rest just behind but Auguste Rodin offered nothing.
Appleby said: “He’d won a Breeders’ Cup Turf and four Group Ones, yet he was 20-1, which showed just how deep a race it was.
“William told me he had a plan but I told him not to tell me, then I couldn’t roast him if it went wrong!
“We were confident the right thing to do was go forward and heading down the back, I felt confident because I knew the fractions weren’t strong.
“William knows this track so well and did everything right.
“To have a winner tonight, on what has been a really international night, to get one on the board for Godolphin and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed is very pleasing.”
The Newmarket handler added: “It was our last throw of the darts, but we were confident he was in as good a place as we could get him. He went to Kempton and then had a great ride in Qatar from William.
“He has travelled a lot but we were confident he was at his best. Plan A was to go forward to give the horse the best chance to run his best race.
“This whole night is a huge space in the racing calendar that everyone will aim for. You’ve got to look after these horses and make sure you don’t give them one race too many.
“We toyed with the Champions & Chater Cup in Hong Kong next, but we will enjoy today and he deserves a bit of a rest.”
Buick commented: “He showed in Qatar that he can still perform from the front or close to it. He has a big stride and we decided to get across and somewhere near the action. We were given an easy lead off easy fractions. I was surprised he was in his comfort zone, going easily.”
O’Brien was keen to write off Auguste Rodin’s below-par effort, stating: “It was a bit of a non-event really. The race just developed into halves so we just want to put a line through the race really.
“Ryan (Moore) just said he felt he wasn’t happy where he was or anything. They just never activated at all so it was a bit of a non-event. It was just one of them where it didn’t happen.”
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