Rebel Dane defied a massive price to record a shock victory in the 2016 Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley tonight.
Rebel Dane was barely mentioned in the lead-up to the Manikato Stakes as the majority of attention was focused on the likes of Chautauqua, English and Buffering, but Rebel Dane took advantage of a clever ride from Ben Melham to score his second victory at Group 1 level.
Melham elected to cut the corner coming into the Moonee Valley straight and it proved to be a winning move, with the California Dane entire the only horse able to make up ground in the final stages of the race.
Trainer Gary Portelli said after the race that he expected Rebel Dane to run well in the Manikato Stakes, but he admitted that a top five finish was all that he wanted for his star galloper, who had not won at Group 1 level since he took out the 2013 edition of the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m).
“There is hope for us all,” Portelli said.
“It has been a great team effort from us all.
“We have been taking him down to the beach, putting him over some hurdles and just trying to break it up.
“I knew that he had it in him – last start at Randwick he ran 32.80 his last 600 and it was the second fastest outside of Astern, so I said we had to have a go at this race.
“Here we are in the winners circle.
“I have to thank the syndicate for leaving him with us and giving us the chance to have another crack at the Manikato.
“We could have pulled up stumps earlier in this campaign, but we have been confident the horse has been right and it is only a matter of getting some luck and he would finish in the top five tonight.”
Melham had never previously ridden Rebel Dane under race conditions, but he was extremely impressed with the turn-of-foot shown by the seven-year-old in the final stages of the Manikato Stakes and was clearly delighted to have claimed a surprise Group 1 victory.
“It was a great win,” Melham said.
“He has deserved to win another Group 1 this horse.
“He has had a few goes at it and ran some third, fourth and fifths and it is good to see him come here and win with a bit of authority.
“He broke pretty well and they were happy to race a fair bit off the fence.
“They travelled to the corner and I gave them a boot up inside them and he really let down with a good bit of dash.”
Chautauqua started the 2016 Manikato Stakes as a clear favourite, but he never looked like a winning chance and co-trainer Wayne Hawkes confirmed that the popular grey would be sent to the spelling paddock.