Latest news with #'sRomance
Gulf Today
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Rebel's Romance continues courtship with Royal Ascot
Rebel's Romance is trainer Charlie Appleby's favourite horse and the two-time Breeder's Cup Turf winner endeared himself further when he won the Hardwicke Stakes. Described as an 'absolute dude' by jockey William Buick Appleby's last runner of the week delivered the trainer's first win at Royal Ascot since a 1-2 three years ago to the day. 'It is a huge honour to have a horse like this,' said Appleby, whose winner was the first seven-year-old to win the race in 102 years. 'This was the horse we needed with the last roll of the dice, he is a battler. 'He is more than our iron horse he has kept the yard afloat this week. 'He is our stable's favourite and always will be.' Appleby, who began the season with a bang winning both the English 1000 and 2000 Guineas, shrugged off the ending of the losing run. 'Of course it is not a matter of life and death,' said Appleby, who has taken his tally to 16 Royal Ascot winners. 'If you look at the bigger picture and beyond racing you have got to take the losses and take positives out of it. 'It is the equine Olympics.' Appleby's mother Patricia was present and concurred with Buick that Rebel's Romance was a 'dude of a horse'. She also brought her son perhaps the required good omen. 'It has been a very long wait,' she said. 'Last time I wore this yellow dress was when Charlie won the Melbourne Cup (2018) and I have not worn it since.' Buick has had a far better week than Appleby, landing amongst other races the Ascot Gold Cup for the same owners, Dubai ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Godolphin Operation. 'He is a dream horse. Any jockey fortunate to have in his career a horse like this is blessed,' said the 36-year-old Norway-born jockey. Meanwhile, Lazzat gave France their first winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes denying Japan their maiden win at Royal Ascot as the gallant Satono Reve finished second on Saturday, the final day of the meeting. Lazzat's victory rounded off a superb week for owner the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing, a final day double -- both ridden by James Doyle -- taking their tally to five. Lazzat was France's last hope of salvaging something from the week -- indeed their other two runners in the race fared badly, Sajir being withdrawn and the other Topgear losing two of his horse shoes. The winner was still in feisty form post winning as he shied away from someone coming to him with a blanket like a matador and dumped Doyle on the turf. Doyle -- described as 'world class and a brilliant guy' by Wathan's racing manager Richard Brown -- dusted himself down as his 26th Royal Ascot winner disappeared into the distance. 'I cannot take any credit at all,' he said modestly. 'Jerome (Reynier the trainer) was very confident, I could tell Satono Reve was coming alright but you won't get a more genuine horse than this.' Satono Reve lost little in defeat under Joao Moreira -- known as 'the Magic Man' -- and did better than the previous 10 Japanese runners at the meeting, all of whom had finished outside the first three. 'We came in with a lot of confidence but unfortunately bumped into a very good horse. 'I thought I had him but he had another gear. My horse ran really well.' 'We're best friends.' Doyle had begun the day with a bang as Humidity emulated his full brother Holloway Boy in 2022 landing the Listed Chesham Stakes for Wathnan Racing. Qatar's joy was Godolphin's despair as hotly fancied favourite Treanmor -- who cost 2million euros ($2.3 million) -- never threatened. A special day for the winners but also for Dean Sutherland, who has worked at Ascot since June 1981, firstly at the golf course then on the gardening team. Agencies
RTÉ News
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Royal Ascot round-up: Rebel''s Romance reigns in Hardwicke Stakes
Globetrotting star Rebel's Romance belatedly got Charlie Appleby off the mark at Royal Ascot this year with a typically determined display in the Hardwicke Stakes. A dual winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf, a multiple Group One victor in Germany and also successful at the highest level in Dubai and Hong Kong, the seven-year-old secured his biggest victory on home soil to date in last month's Yorkshire Cup and he was a 6-4 shot to follow up under William Buick. Favourite backers will have had few concerns, with Rebel's Romance travelling strongly throughout and he found plenty up the straight to score comfortably by a length and three-quarters from Al Riffa, with Ghostwriter third. Appleby, who had not saddled a Royal Ascot winner since 2022 and had seen well-fancied horses like Notable Speech, Ruling Court, Cinderella's Dream and Treanmor beaten this week, was relieved to get himself into the big-race winner's enclosure. REBEL'S ROMANCE wins The Hardwicke Stakes for Charlie Appleby. Congratulations to connections. — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 21, 2025 "Rebel's Romance is a worldwide superstar. I've got a picture of this fellow on my bedside table. He means that much to us all," said the Moulton Paddocks handler. "He's the only horse I know that you can take to Hong Kong and he'll get you into any bar and restaurant! You can get in anywhere on the back of Rebel's Romance. "As William says, he's his best friend and they have that great rapport there. You couldn't get two more willing partners together. "I have to give credit to the team at home. When you have an older horse, to keep them sound and keep them going, for him to have his enthusiasm year after year at this level. "As they get older they all taper, as we all do, that's expected. He might get a bit slower but his enthusiasm and his heart does not falter one iota." Reflecting on the week, Appleby added: "You can come here thinking you're fully loaded and have great chances, and you can walk away with excuses, but that's racing. I would like to think that we compose ourselves well, we take it on the chin and then we look forward to moving on. "Once something comes to Rebel's Romance, he finds. You very rarely get a horse that when it gets into the red, he still goes. "If there was one horse that you were having to roll your last dice on in this game, it was going to be him. Win, lose or draw he's going to go out there and go out on his sword for you." Humidity made his rivals feel the heat in the Chesham Stakes thanks to a fine front-running ride from James Doyle. Trained by Andrew Balding, he was an impressive winner in the colours of Cheveley Park Stud over six furlongs at Newbury on debut, but transferred to the ownership of Wathnan Racing ahead of stepping up to seven furlongs for this Listed event. Humidity was quickly away and never passed by his rivals, showing great resolve when challenged late in the day to replicate his brother Holloway Boy, who won this contest on debut at the 2022 Royal meeting. The Chesham Stakes goes the way of @the_doyler on board HUMIDITY for @AndrewBalding2 — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 21, 2025 Balding said of his 4-1 winner: "I am so pleased and at the beginning of the week we felt this horse was probably our strongest chance. "He's a lovely horse who had to battle hard today, and he's done nothing wrong. I would hope he would stay further, but he's not short of speed either. This was always the plan but we will now work back from something nice in the autumn. "He's so laid back. I'm a big fan of Ulysses – I think he's an under-rated stallion, so this is good for him and we've got a couple of other nice horses by him, but he (Humidity) is an absolute dude, very relaxed. "I think he could be a Guineas horse. He's not short of speed and he's got a lovely long stride, so he's got a bright future." Noble Champion provided trainer Ed Walker and jockey Kieran Shoemark with their second Royal Ascot winner in as many days after careering clear of his rivals in the Jersey Stakes. Having successfully combined with 22-1 shot Never Let Go in Friday's Sandringham Stakes, Walker and Shoemark teamed up with another relative outsider in Noble Champion, who was 25-1 having struggled to make an impact in Group Three and Listed company this spring. But stepped back up in trip from six to seven furlongs for this Group Three assignment, the Lope De Vega colt flourished, racing in the slipstream of the pacesetting Spy Chief for much of the way before taking over and pulling three and a quarter lengths clear, despite hanging left late on. Favourite Comanche Brave was just under three further back in third. NOBLE CHAMPION wins impressively for Kieran Shoemark, and @edwalkerracing. Congratulations to connections on winning The Jersey Stakes. — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 21, 2025 "It just hasn't panned out, he had a setback in January that messed up our prep for the Greenham," said Walker. "We thought he was a Guineas horse, we really believed a lot in him. We thought we'd go a sensible route and we went in a conditions race at Goodwood over a mile, there wasn't much pace. He was keen and he just got it all wrong. "We brought him back to six, he just shows so much speed at home – we even thought about supplementing him for the Commonwealth Cup because he has so much speed. "Finally the trainer got it right! He's as good a work horse as we've had, he's a very impressive horse. He's very quick with such a high cruising speed, he's very, very smart. "He's driven me mad, I'm guilty of wearing my heart on my sleeve and I tell my owners if I think the horses are good, bad or ugly. I told Simon (Sadler, owner) how much belief I had in this horse, we were gutted he got beaten on debut. "I said to Simon that if it didn't work today, then I didn't know what was going wrong. The ground, track, and trip was all right." Get It just held on to deny the fast-finishing big-race favourite More Thunder after making every yard in the Wokingham Stakes. An all-the-way winner of the Stewards' Cup at Goodwood last year, George Baker's seven-year-old arrived at the Royal meeting having broken the track record from the front over course and distance last month. Sent off at 28-1 in the hands Seamie Heffernan, he was away quickly leading the majority of the field up the centre of the track and although William Haggas' 3-1 market leader More Thunder was weaving his way through the field to challenge late on, Get It had enough up his sleeve to deliver a head verdict. "He broke Blue Point's record here six weeks ago and that was a great thrill – and it got us into this race," said Baker. "Seamie has given him a peach. All credit to Pat Cosgrave who, annoyingly, is banned. Pat has been the making of this horse and a great, great friend of mine and I'd love Patsy to be riding him obviously because we've had a lot of fun along the way – but what a wonderful substitute in Seamie. "He breezed the horse a couple of times in Bahrain, loved him, and he did what Patsy always does. Let him burn out of the stalls and then he'll come back to you and then he'll go again. "When he was still in front two furlongs out and they were coming, I knew he would go again. But that last furlong took about three days! What a horse. He's danced a lot of dances and has been an absolute superstar for us." Quai De Bethune got up in the very last stride to to deny favourite backers in the Golden Gates Stakes. Ralph Beckett's Seraph Gabriel was all the rage as the 11-4 market leader following an eyecatching comeback run at Sandown, and he looked set to oblige after quickening up from the rear to grab the lead under Rossa Ryan. However, the Andrew Balding-trained 12-1 chance Quai De Bethune came from even further back in the hands of Oisin Murphy and while there was little to choose between the pair passing the post, the judge confirmed Balding's charge had got up by a nose. QUAI DE BETHUNE takes The Golden Gates Stakesto give @oismurphy a fifth winner of the week and a second win on the day for @AndrewBalding2. Congratulations to connections. — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 21, 2025 "I'm very pleased. We've had this race in mind for him for a good while now, but you need everything to go right," said the Kingsclere handler.
Irish Daily Mirror
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
'Worldwide superstar' horse takes earnings to over €12.5m with Royal Ascot win
Rebel's Romance took his career earnings to over €12.5million after winning the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday. The seven-year-old belatedly got Charlie Appleby off the mark at this year's meeting with a typically determined display. Having clinched his greatest victory on home turf in last month's Yorkshire Cup, Rebel's Romance was a hot pick at 6-4 to bag another win with William Buick in the saddle. Fans backing the favourite were put at ease as Rebel's Romance travelled strongly throughout the race and surged to a clear victory, winning by one and three-quarter lengths over Al Riffa, with Ghostwriter nabbing third place. Trainer Appleby, who was yearning for an Ascot triumph after a dry spell since 2022 and had seen his fair share of well-fancied horses like Notable Speech, Ruling Court, Cinderella's Dream, and Treanmor fall short earlier in the week, expressed his elation at finally making it back to the winner's circle at a major event. "Rebel's Romance is a worldwide superstar. I've got a picture of this fellow on my bedside table. He means that much to us all," said the Moulton Paddocks handler. "He's the only horse I know that you can take to Hong Kong and he'll get you into any bar and restaurant! You can get in anywhere on the back of Rebel's Romance. "As William says, he's his best friend and they have that great rapport there. You couldn't get two more willing partners together. "I have to give credit to the team at home. When you have an older horse, to keep them sound and keep them going, for him to have his enthusiasm year after year at this level. "As they get older they all taper, as we all do, that's expected. He might get a bit slower but his enthusiasm and his heart does not falter one iota." Reflecting on the week, Appleby added: "You can come here thinking you're fully loaded and have great chances, and you can walk away with excuses, but that's racing. I would like to think that we compose ourselves well, we take it on the chin and then we look forward to moving on. "Once something comes to Rebel's Romance, he finds. You very rarely get a horse that when it gets into the red, he still goes. "If there was one horse that you were having to roll your last dice on in this game, it was going to be him. Win, lose or draw he's going to go out there and go out on his sword for you." Joseph O'Brien was proud of the performance of runner-up Al Riffa, saying: 'Fantastic run, probably unlucky to meet a horse like Rebel's Romance in that race, but we're very proud of our horse, who is a real star for us and he's run his legs off for us again today. 'Hopefully there will be plenty more big days with him to come this season. He's a beautiful horse and he always runs to a rating not too far off 120, and it's hard to find horses like that. 'I wouldn't be against trying a little bit further with him – he's got plenty of stamina in his pedigree. I think we'll probably think outside the box with him a little bit now.' The Clive Cox-trained Ghostwriter was sold for £2million on the eve of the Royal meeting and shaped with plenty of encouragement in his first start in the Amo Racing colours. Owner Kia Joorabchian said: 'That was the first time at that trip (mile and a half) and I think he has handled that trip very well. 'I'm definitely not disappointed because probably that's one of his best runs ever. Clearly he's got very strong heart and I think he's going to give us a lot of fun.' On what the future holds for the four-year-old, he added: 'He like the (fast) ground so maybe somewhere like America, Australia, those kinds of places he'd relish. 'No decisions from us, but we are very pleased with his run and I think he's managed to prove that the amount that we invested in him was worth it. 'Of course you'd like to win, but being beaten by a horse that has won the Sheema Classic, the Breeders' Cup, big races in Qatar, that horse is a massive horse and I'm happy for Charlie – he's broken his duck before me!"
Scottish Sun
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Horse racing tips: ‘Stacks of staying power and class to match' – Templegate's 9-4 NAP thrives under this jockey
TEMPLEGATE tackles Friday's racing confident of boosting the coffers for a blistering Saturday of action. Back a horse by clicking their odds below. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up SWEET WILLIAM (3.45 York, nap) He will be delighted there's no Kyprios in the line-up as he chased home the staying superstar a couple of times last season. The Gosden runner had his own days in the sun too when winning the Henry II Stakes at Sandown and the Doncaster Cup. He ended his campaign with another excellent effort behind Kyprios in Ascot's Long Distance Cup. We know he has lots of staying power and he gets on well with regular rider Rab Havlin who can use all his experience in what could be a tactical race. Rebel's Romance has been well backed but he's going beyond 1m4f for the first time at this late stage of his career which has to be a worry. St Leger winner Continuous may be a bigger threat while Aidan O'Brien is in such sizzling form. GLITTERING SURF (3.13 York, nb) She has won her two lifetime starts without breaking sweat on the all-weather and can keep that run going on turf for in-form trainer Owen Burrows. He is running at almost 50 per cent winners this season. This mile trip is ideal and there should be a lot more in the locker with fast ground highly likely to suit. ROYAL APPROVAL (2.25 Newbury, treble) This son of Cracksman showed some promising signs on his turf return at Doncaster last time out. He sees out this 1m2f stronly and has had a little nudge down the weights. He looks massively overpriced and it would no shock to see him make the frame at least. Templegate's tips FREE BETS - GET THE BEST SIGN UP DEALS AND RACING OFFERS Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who: Establishes time and monetary limits before playing Only gambles with money they can afford to lose Never chases their losses Doesn't gamble if they're upset, angry or depressed Gamcare – Gamble Aware – Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.
The Irish Sun
15-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Horse racing tips: ‘Stacks of staying power and class to match' – Templegate's 9-4 NAP thrives under this jockey
TEMPLEGATE tackles Friday's racing confident of boosting the coffers for a blistering Saturday of action. Back a horse by clicking their odds below. SWEET WILLIAM (3.45 York, nap) He will be delighted there's no Kyprios in the line-up as he chased home the staying superstar a couple of times last season. The Gosden runner had his own days in the sun too when winning the Henry II Stakes at Sandown and the Doncaster Cup. He ended his campaign with another excellent effort behind Kyprios in Ascot's Long Distance Cup. We know he has lots of staying power and he gets on well with regular rider Rab Havlin who can use all his experience in what could be a tactical race. Rebel's Romance has been well backed but he's going beyond 1m4f for the first time at this late stage of his career which has to be a worry. St Leger winner Continuous may be a bigger threat while Aidan O'Brien is in such sizzling form. GLITTERING SURF (3.13 York, nb) She has won her two lifetime starts without breaking sweat on the all-weather and can keep that run going on turf for in-form trainer Owen Burrows. He is running at almost 50 per cent winners this season. This mile trip is ideal and there should be a lot more in the locker with fast ground highly likely to suit. ROYAL APPROVAL (2.25 Newbury, treble) This son of Cracksman showed some promising signs on his turf return at Doncaster last time out. He sees out this 1m2f stronly and has had a little nudge down the weights. He looks massively overpriced and it would no shock to see him make the frame at least. Templegate's tips FREE BETS - GET THE BEST SIGN UP DEALS AND RACING OFFERS Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. . Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who: Most read in Horse Racing Establishes time and monetary limits before playing Only gambles with money they can afford to lose Never chases their losses Doesn't gamble if they're upset, angry or depressed Gamcare – Gamble Aware – Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.
