News - REBEL DANE (AUS)
The $400,000 Group II MVRC Drummond Golf Vase (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday showcases up and coming young 3YO stayers with lightly raced Rebel Dane gelding True Rebel taking the prize in a driving finish.
It’s been a long time since brilliant filly Fireburn won the Golden Slipper and her sire Rebel Dane has had to soldier through a long period in the commercial wilderness, but with his biggest and best ever foal crop just turned three the tide may be on the turn.
Sires that can produce 2YO winners and in particular 2YO stakes-winners have a unique appeal in the marketplace and one stud has six stallions on their 2026 roster that have done just that this season and not one of those stallions stands for more than $27,500.
Rebel Dane shot to fame after siring Golden Slipper winning Champion 2YO Fireburn, but as so often happens when an unheralded stallion makes an early splash it can take a while for that initial result to transform into more ongoing success.
With a Golden Slipper winning Champion 2YO in Fireburn coming from just his second crop of foals, Rebel Dane was an under the radar sire that found fame in a rush, but as so often happens it takes a very long time for that achievement to follow into the sale ring.
Golden Slipper winner Fireburn has run her last race and is heading to Japan.
The Group I MVRC Manikato Stakes (1200m) might play second fiddle to the Cox Plate on Saturday, but this elite sprint has been won by some outstanding horses including Rebel Dane, whose first big commercial crop of foals are being born this spring holding the promise of exciting times to come.
Choosing a proven sire that you know can get a Group I winner is one way of lessening the risk when what you really want to do is a breed a winner and Widden Stud’s Proven Play is going to prove hard to resist!
Rebel Dane might be best known for siring Golden Slipper winning filly Fireburn, but he has another filly making a name for herself and that’s Anphina, who scored a determined win in the $135,000 Northern Territory Derby at Fannie Bay last Saturday.
The Gary Portelli-trained Fireburn found the perfect spot in the Group II The Roses (2000m) at Doomben on Saturday to break back in the winner’s list for the first time since her heroic Golden Slipper/ATC Sires Produce Stakes double.
Rebel Dane was relocated to Widden Stud this spring off the back of the achievements of his Champion 2YO Filly and Golden Slipper winner Fireburn, the promising sire posting an impressive debut winner at Kembla on Thursday.
Gary Portelli is full of optimism for his star three year-olds Fireburn and Sejardan, who both trialled on Monday morning at Warwick Farm, while a Menari filly caught our eye as a likely winner next month.
The 2021/ 2022 Australian racing season has brought continuing success on the track and in the sale ring to Widden Stud and our clients with the addition of new stallions this year holding promise for the future.
What more fitting date could there be for the return of Bred To Win for its spring season than the horses’ birthday, Monday August 1!
At the yearling sales every year at the top of the market we hear countless stories from buyers claiming to have abought a Slipper horse or a 2YO type, but the reality is our four Group I winning 2YO’s this season do not come from anywhere near the top of the market.
Our next chapter in the Price Point series of stories looks at a group of a dozen stallions that includes four first season horses and the stallion that has sired more 2YO winners this season than any other.
The ability to sire fast maturing early 2YO’s is a quality not all stallions possess, so the ones that can do it on a regular basis hold a unique place in the market and not all of them are super expensive.
Following a sixteen-week break, the 3yo Rebel Dane gelding Rebel Shadow came from last on the turn to blow away six opponents in a benchmark 64 for 3yos over 1100m at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
Widden Stud have won the race to stand Rebel Dane, who has shot to prominence as the sire of brilliant filly Fireburn.
There were five Group I races contested in Australasia on Saturday including two horses winning at the elite level for the first time one of which put the spotlight on an emerging broodmare sire.