At 7, Rebel's Romance shows no signs of slowing down
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A 7-year-old racing at the Group/Grade 1 level is rare in North America and rarer still in Europe. The gelding Rebel’s Romance is that rare individual who, at 7, is still getting it done at the highest level of the sport.
His globe-trotting campaign, which this year has taken him to Qatar, Dubai, England, and Germany, brings Rebel’s Romance to New York on Saturday for the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct. The Hirsch, named in honor of the longtime Daily Racing Form executive columnist who died in 2009, is surprisingly not a Win and You’re In for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. But the winner of this 1 1/2-mile turf event will undoubtedly be headed to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup.
Rebel’s Romance has won the BC Turf twice – in 2022 at Keeneland and 2024 at Del Mar. While his preferred prep race those years came in Germany, Rebel’s Romance was sent to New York by trainer Charlie Appleby in search of firm ground. After a mostly dry month of September, significant rain was forecast for Thursday. The Aqueduct turf courses were in need of rain, so course condition shouldn’t be greatly impacted come Saturday.
Certainly, the course won’t be a bog as it was in 2023, when Rebel’s Romance finished fourth in the Hirsch as the 1-2 favorite.
Rebel’s Romance has won eight Group or Grade 1 races among his 19 career victories. His most recent success was a hard-fought, three-quarter-length victory in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten in Germany. Rebel’s Romance was never more than 1 1/2 lengths off a tepid pace and edged away late. It was his fourth win from six starts this year.
“As a physical, he’s as big and as strong as we’ve ever seen him, and naturally he’s an older model that you wouldn’t see very often in Europe,” said Appleby, who trains Rebel’s Romance for Godolphin. “Not too many 7-year-olds you see at that Group 1 level. No doubt, the horse is in just as good a condition as he was over the past couple of years, for sure.”
Frankie Dettori will ride Rebel’s Romance.
Appleby and Godolphin also will be represented by El Cordobes in the Joe Hirsch. El Cordobes, a 4-year-old gelding by Frankel, made a successful U.S. trip last month when he captured the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga, beating Rebel Red, who finished second, and Far Bridge, who was sixth; both of those horses are in this spot.
El Cordobes had been a front-runner in his European races, including a victory in the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket. He came from off the pace in the Sword Dancer.
“He had shown ability on the front end, but the way he finished strong changed the dynamics,” Appleby said. “He was given a great ride by Flavien [Prat] that day. Most importantly, he came out of the race well, ticked all the boxes that you’d want to do going back there. We feel we don’t have to worry about whether he handles the tracks, or handles the whole experience; he’s done it now.”
John Velazquez rides EL Cordobes from the rail.
Far Bridge, who won last year’s Joe Hirsch, seeks to rebound from an uncharacteristically poor showing in Sword Dancer. Joel Rosario made an early move to get Far Bridge into second down the stretch the first time, and the horse got a bit keen and had nothing left for the stretch run.
Trainer Miguel Clement freshened him a little bit, opting to work him just twice in the seven weeks between races.
“The whole point was having a bit of freshening to have him ready for the Joe Hirsch and Breeders’ Cup,” Clement said. “Once we get to a certain level of fitness, you want to just keep him ticking along, especially at the end of the year.”
Far Bridge, also has the versatility to be a factor from on or off the pace. He breaks from post 5 under Rosario.
Redistricting, trained by Chad Brown, is coming off victories in the Monmouth Stakes and Grade 2 United Nations at Monmouth Park, but this looks to be a stronger group.
“He’s going to have to step up, it’s a tough race for sure,” Brown said.
Rebel Red, trained by Cherie DeVaux, won the Chorleywood Stakes at Churchill and finished seventh in the United Nations before finishing a good second, beaten just a half-length, in the Sword Dancer.
“He’s training really well,” DeVaux said. “He ran a career-best race his last out. He’ll need to at least run that again.”
The Joe Hirsch goes as race 5 on an 11-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m. and includes four other stakes, including the Grade 2, $300,000 Woodward for older males going 1 1/8 miles and the Grade 3, $200,000 Vosburgh for male sprinters at seven furlongs.
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