Godolphin's globe-trotting champion Rebel's Romance kicks off his 2025 campaign Feb. 15 when he seeks a second consecutive victory in the H H The Amir Trophy (G3) at Al Rayyan Racecourse near Doha, Qatar.
Last year, he won the $2.5 million race by three lengths under regular rider William Buick, kickstarting a season that concluded with a 5-for-6 record. In other action in 2024, he won grade/group 1s in Dubai, Hong Kong, Germany, and most recently in the United States in the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Del Mar.
There, he fended off a late challenge from Japanese shipper Rousham Park to score by a neck. The homebred Dubawi gelding, who initially captured the Breeders' Cup Turf in 2022 at Keeneland, became the first horse to win the Turf in nonconsecutive years.
Last month, Rebel's Romance was honored as North America's Eclipse Award-winning older turf male of 2024.
Speaking of the now 6-year-old in a release on the Godolphin website, trainer Charlie Appleby called Saturday's race "the ideal starting point to his campaign."
"If he turns up in the form that he has shown over the past 12 months, he will be the one they all have to beat," he continued. "Age is the one thing that is creeping up on him, but all the signs at home have been very positive. "
Alflaila, Simca Mille, Satono Glanz, and The Foxes head the opposition in the 1 1/2-mile turf race.
