2024 Eclipse Awards: Rebel's Romance

A seventh, a did-not-finish, a 10th, and finally a victory in a winter all-weather surface contest at Kempton Park. So went Rebel’s Romance’s 5-year-old campaign of 2023, an assemblage of outings, including two in America, that were light years from Eclipse Award material. It was a far cry from his 4-year-old season, when he won a pair of Group 1s in Germany and the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland.

Late to bloom, his first Group 1 appearance coming in his 10th start, Rebel’s Romance’s career arc always had been unusual. A gelding based much of the year in England but best suited to flat left-handed ovals in America and Dubai, Rebel’s Romance’s star had risen stealthily yet quickly. And when a horse climbs fast to a peak, descent often comes with similar rapidity.

That appeared to be the case during 2023. Yet trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin found a path for Rebel’s Romance to rise again. A February Group 3 tally in Qatar offered encouraging signs. Victory five weeks later, a two-length win against top international competition in the Group 1 Sheema Classic at Meydan, showed Rebel’s Romance at age 6 had returned to the summit.

:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

There he stayed the rest of his season. In the Sheema Classic, he beat the Japanese star Shahryar two lengths. Winning the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf for the second time in three years, he beat Shahryar in third by 1 3/4 lengths.

The Breeders’ Cup Turf margin between Rebel’s Romance and another Japanese horse, Rousham Park, was much narrower, fast-closing Rousham Park just running out of ground at short-stretch Del Mar. But Rebel’s Romance held on and now holds down one of three spots as an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding turf male.

Rebel’s Romance shipped to Del Mar in late October. Appleby, his first morning on the Del Mar backstretch, didn’t hesitate, calling the gelding his leading hope for a Breeders’ Cup win. A Godolphin homebred by Dubawi, Rebel’s Romance is a beast of a horse, rough-hewn, almost coarse, the sort of animal who ought to excel if given a chance to reach full maturity. He was, and he has.

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