Royal Ascot round-up: Rebel''s Romance reigns in Hardwicke Stakes

RTÉ News​

21-06-2025

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. pic.twitter.com/yZACYlrGzq
— 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 pic.twitter.com/My6jDv2zNx
— 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. pic.twitter.com/i7rrpaCRay
— 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. pic.twitter.com/hsglG0FqQD
— 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.