By Tom Frary
Bringing an end to a three-year winless streak at Royal Ascot for Charlie Appleby, Dubawi's international heavyweight Rebel's Romance landed the required knockout blow in Saturday's G2 Hardwicke Stakes. Always travelling easily behind the genuine pace, the 6-4 favourite took control two out and drew away under William Buick to beat Al Riffa (Wootton Bassett) by 1 3/4 lengths, with Ghostwriter (Invincible Spirit) 1 1/2 lengths away in third.
“He's a worldwide superstar–I have a picture of him on my bedside table, he means so much to us,” commented Appleby, whose last win at the meeting came with Naval Crown in the 2022 G1 Platinum Jubilee Stakes. “If one horse was going to pull it out of the bag, it was Rebel's Romance.”
CHARLIE APPLEBY'S WAIT FOR A #ROYALASCOT WINNER IS OVER!
REBEL'S ROMANCE TAKES THE HARDWICKE STAKES! pic.twitter.com/aR19759kyu
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 21, 2025
Now the winner of 18 races in seven different countries including seven at the highest level, Godolphin's fourth winner of the week was back at his ideal trip having garnered the 14-furlong G2 Yorkshire Cup last month. Having come out of last year's King George with great merit having raced close to the demanding pace, the dual Breeders' Cup Turf hero was able to enjoy a relatively easy time of it here and could be named the winner just about everywhere.
“Full credit to the horse first and foremost and full credit to all the team,” Appleby added. “It has been a tough week and that is what you expect when you come here–it is the Olympics. You can come here thinking you are fully loaded and have great chances and you can walk away with excuses, but that's racing. For this horse to do it on this stage is what he richly deserves.”
Buick added, “It was very important for us to have a winner, for Charlie and the team but it's not easy. Rebel's Romance is a dream horse. Any jockey that is fortunate in their career to have a horse like Rebel's Romance is blessed and I am blessed. He travels the world and is recognised everywhere. We have won more than £10 million in prize money. He has been around the block and you don't find many top-class horses with a will to win like he has. I always say he always finds a way. We gel well together. He is my best friend.”
Joseph O'Brien said of Al Riffa, “He is a real star and has run his legs off for us again today. He is a beautiful horse and always runs to a rating not too far off 120–it is hard to find horses like that. We were probably unlucky to meet a real champion in the Hardwicke and I wouldn't be against trying a little bit further with Al Riffa as well–he has plenty of stamina in his pedigree.”
Kia Joorabchian said of Ghostwriter, “That was the first time at that trip and I think he has handled it very well. I am not disappointed because probably that is one of his best runs ever. Clearly, he has very strong heart and I think he's going to give us a lot of fun. He likes the ground, so maybe somewhere like America, Australia, those kinds of places he would relish.”
“I think he's managed to prove that the amount that we invested in him was worth that,” he added. “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 am happy for Charlie–he has broken his duck before me.”
Pedigree Notes
Rebel's Romance's dam is the Listed Height of Fashion Stakes runner-up Minidress (Street Cry), whose other top-level winner is the G1 Jebel Hatta hero Measured Time (Frankel). A full-sister to the G3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy winner Volcanic Sky, she is out of the G3 Musidora Stakes winner and G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Short Skirt (Diktat) who was also third in the Oaks.
The third dam is the excellent producer Much Too Risky (Bustino), whose quartet of Stakes winners are headed by the G2 Prix de Pomone winner Whitewater Affair (Machiavellian), in turn the dam of the triple Group 1-winning champion Victoire Pisa (Neo Universe) and the G1 Yasuda Kinen hero Asakusa De'nen (Singspiel). Also connected to another Japanese champion in Robe Tissage (War Emblem), Minidress has a 2-year-old full-brother to Rebel's Romance to come.
Saturday, Ascot, Britain
HARDWICKE STAKES-G2, £250,000, Ascot, 6-21, 4yo/up, 11f 211yT, 2:28.23, g/f.
1–REBEL'S ROMANCE (IRE), 129, g, 7, by Dubawi (Ire)
1st Dam: Minidress (GB) (SP-Eng), by Street Cry (Ire)
2nd Dam: Short Skirt (GB), by Diktat (GB)
3rd Dam: Much Too Risky (GB), by Bustino (GB)
O/B-Godolphin; T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. £141,775. Lifetime Record: MGISW-US, MG1SW-Ger, G1SW-HK & UAE, GSW-Qat, 26-18-0-1, $12,838,273. *1/2 to Measured Time (GB) (Frankel {GB}), G1SW-UAE, GISW-US & SP-Eng, $1,568,523; and Petticoat (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}), SP-Ire. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Al Riffa (Fr), 129, h, 5, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Love On My Mind (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). (€31,000 Wlg '20 ARQDEC; 150,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Al Riffa Syndicate; B-SARL de Chambure Haras d'Etreham, Benoit Chalmel & SARL Compagni; T-Joseph O'Brien. £53,750.
3–Ghostwriter (Ire), 129, c, 4, Invincible Spirit (Ire)–Moorside (GB), by Champs Elysees (GB). (100,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE; £2,000,000 4yo '25 GOFLON). O-Amo Racing Ltd; B-Norelands Bloodstock & Irish National Stud; T-Clive Cox. £26,900.
Margins: 1 3/4, 1HF, 1 1/4. Odds: 1.50, 4.00, 5.00.
Also Ran: Palladium (Ger), Sunway (Fr), Tabletalk (Ire), Al Aasy (Ire), Burdett Road (GB), Bellum Justum (Ire), Space Legend (Ire), Epic Poet (Ire), Candleford (Ire).
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