Rebel’s Romance has won two renewals of the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and his connections surely have their sights set on a third this November at Del Mar. The 7-year-old gelding also has captured three Group 1s in Germany and in 2024 won the Group 1 Sheema Classic at Meydan.
And while Rebel’s Romance never has won a Group 1 in England, where he’s based much of the year with trainer Charlie Appleby, he has started in only one such race, finishing a distant third a year ago in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. His second try comes in this year’s King George, and Rebel’s Romance faces just four foes Saturday at Ascot in the 1 1/2-mile fixture.
The King George serves as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, offering the winner automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Turf and travel expenses to Del Mar. Rebel’s Romance, all being well, seems likely to make that trip regardless of how things turn out in the King George, for which British bookmakers priced him Thursday at about 5-1, fourth choice, shorter only than 150-1 shot Continuous, a pacemaker for his co-favored stablemate Jan Brueghel.
While Rebel’s Romance has smacked around Group 2 foes this spring and summer – producing official ratings similar to his peak – Jan Brueghel scored a narrow upset over Calandagan in the British flat season’s first important 1 1/2-mile contest open to older horses, the Group 1 Coronation Cup on June 6 at Epsom. A half-length separated the pair in the Coronation Cup, and the bookies on Thursday had both priced at about 7-4.
Jan Brueghel, more a staying type than a middle-distance horse, based, at least, on his lone Group 1 victory last year at age 3 having come in the 14 1/2-furlong St. Leger Stakes, has five fewer starts than fellow 4-year-old Calandagan, who’s more accomplished as well as being more experienced. Calandagan put together a three-race winning streak last summer, but the Coronation Cup – where he loomed a winner a furlong out, appearing to hang late – marked his fourth second-place finish in Group 1 company. That streak ended June 29 at Saint-Cloud, where Calandagan downed overmatched foes in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
Jan Brueghel races for the first time since the Coronation Cup, where Continuous assured the strong pace that Jan Brueghel, who lacks push-button acceleration, is presumed to require. Ryan Moore rides Jan Brueghel and is sure to get the jump on Calandagan as well as the capable 4-year-old filly Kalpana, second June 28 as the odds-on favorite in the Pretty Polly Stakes, where she gave 12 pounds to victorious 3-year-old filly Whirl.
Rebel’s Romance could stalk the pacemaker from second, and jockey William Buick might wait longer to let his mount roll than he did in the Sheema Classic, where an early move on the backstretch led to a tiring fourth-place finish, Calandagan one of three rallying past him. Appleby and Godolphin have so far this summer eschewed American turf racing and focused on Europe, and while the focus in November turns toward the West Coast, Saturday is all about the west side of London, where Rebel’s Romance might surprise in the King George.
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