REVIEW / LONGINES DUBAI SHEEMA CLASSIC 22 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 840 Thursday 4th April 2024 adiyat racing plus.com adiyat racing plus.com By Duane Fonseca Three years after winning the UAE Derby on dirt, Godolphin’s star globetrotter Rebel’s Romance paraded down Meydan’s lush green turf surface for a history making win in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic. Trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, happy to play the percentages, the six-year-old Dubawi gelding won in rather straightforward fashion with no dramas. Buick had to restrain the rather keen former Breeders’ Cup winner early on and let Point Lonsdale (Wayne Lordan), one of two for trainer Aidan O’Brien, set the pace. The pair were clear of the rest, with Point Lonsdale holding a three length lead at the halfway stage of the 2410m contest. Bidding to thwart the fast-closing Rebel’s Romance, Lordan put Point Lonsdale under a ride turning for home, while Buick, knowing he had plenty of horse under him, refrained from going after the leaders immediately and waited for the 400m marker to materialise. Once he stepped on the gas, Rebel’s Romance showed a solid turn of foot to skip away and go well clear, finding himself winning with two lengths to spare from Hideaki Fujiwara’s 2022 champion Shahryar (Cristian Demuro), who closed in sharply towards the end to deny his Sunday Racing teammate Liberty Island (Mitsumasa Nakauchida/ Yuga Kawada), who placed third a further length behind. It was a third-straight success in a third different country for Rebel’s Romance (G3 in Qatar, after a Listed event at Kempton), while odds on favourite and O’Brien’s dual Derby hero Auguste Rodin finished last of IT WAS A THIRDSTRAIGHT SUCCESS IN A THIRD DIFFERENT COUNTRY FOR REBEL’S ROMANCE, WHO HAD WON A GROUP3 IN QATAR ON HIS LAST START, WHICH CAME ON THE BACK OF A LISTED WIN AT KEMPTON. REBEL’S ROMANCE LEADS HOME A PROCESSION
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