Godolphin's Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) breezed six furlongs over Belmont's main track Wednesday in advance of next weekend's GI Belmont S. Prior to the move, Rebel's Romance, accompanied by Desert Peace (Curlin), briefly schooled in the paddock before heading to the track and jogging clockwise in front of the grandstand and around the far turn. The G2 UAE Derby winner tracked Desert Peace along the outside as NYRA clockers caught the duo through initial splits of :25.00, :36.80 and 1:00.58. Just past the quarter-pole, Rebel's Romance took a slight advantage over his stablemate and was coaxed along approaching the wire, completing his move in 1:14.29, while Desert Peace finished up in 1:14.61.
“The plan was to make him work a little bit harder and push to the line to really get that strong piece of work,” said Appleby's travelling assistant, Sophie Chretien. “I'm very happy with the horse. He's progressing very well. It's 10 days before the race, so this was the big work for him, and he's going forward. They are moving well on the surface and they've been eating great..he's been very consistent. He's very focused.”
Desert Peace, a handicap winner at Meydan in March, is expected to contest the GII True North June 4.
In regards to next week's race, Cretien added, “I'm hoping we don't get too much rain. I've been looking at the forecast and we might get some rain through the weekend, but after that it should dry by the time we get to the Belmont. I'm not hoping for a sloppy track or anything like that.”
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