By Wally Pyrah
GODOLPHIN-owned REBEL’S ROMANCE appears to have another Group One victory at his mercy, when he lines-up in the feature race of the day, the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (9.10am) over a mile-and-a-half at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Presently rated second in the World’s Best Racehorses rankings, the globe-trotting six-year-old produced the form of his life when dispatching a star-studded field including Shahryar, Liberty Island, Emily Upjohn and Auguste Rodin with the minimum of fuss in the Group One Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in Dubai, in March.
That form puts him miles in front of the local gallopers, who are rarely tested over the mile-and-a-half distance and find themselves at a disadvantage when taking on overseas challengers.
Take the Group One LONGINES HK Vase as an example, run on International Day over 12 furlongs in December.
In the last 20 years, overseas raiders have won the race 18 times, with the home defence mostly non-existent.
Charlie Appleby’s global superstar has won over this distance eight times and picked up Group Ones in Qatar, Germany and the US, when winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2022.
The Douglas Whyte-trained Russian Emperor spearheads the home defence having triumphed with back-to-back victories in this contest the last two years and, in Whyte’s own words, has been specifically trained for this race all season.
The possibility of rain will definitely aid his chances, although he was only a speck on the horizon when well-beaten by Rebel’s Romance in the Dubai Sheema Classic.
Dennis Yip, trainer of HK Derby hero Massive Sovereign, hasn’t lost hope in his four-year-old star, despite a subsequent no show in the Group One FWD QEII Cup over 10 furlongs on Champions Day last month.
A soft surface was the excuse for his below-par performance, and jockey Zac Purton will be praying that he doesn’t encounter similar conditions again.
Maybe Five G Patch, third in this contest last season and always spoken about in glowing terms by his trainer Tony Cruz, can prove the pick of the rest.
POINTERS
Rebel’s Romance 9.10am Sha Tin
