Gary Portelli’s upset Manikato Stakes winner Rebel Dane looks on track for his upcoming international bid targeting the Hong Kong Sprint 2016 after winning a Tuesday morning hit out at Rosehill.

The seven-year-old son of California Dane enjoyed his second career Group 1 win last start at Moonee Valley taking out the Manikato Stakes (1200m) as a $61 outsider in betting.

Portelli and connections decided soon after to send the horse to Sha Tin on December 11 for a shot at the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m).

A winner of $2.4 million in prize money, Rebel Dane broke a 13 month drought with his Manikato Stakes victory and Portelli said he could understand why some may question the decision to head overseas with the veteran sprinter.

“It [going to Hong Kong] might be an easier option than spelling and staying at home,” Portelli explained to Racing Victoria on Monday.

“The options were for him to spell and then come back and take on the TJ Smith [Stakes] or go to Hong Kong and obviously take on the world. But I still believe we’ve got one of the world’s best sprinters here and if they all turn up on TJ Smith day, then what a race it would be.”

The $2.5 million Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) is one of the key autumn races run on Day 1 of Randwick’s The Championships in April.

It is a race Rebel Dane has contested twice before when second to Lankan Rupee in 2014 and ninth to Chautauqua in 2016.

Portelli remains confident his sprinter will be competitive on the Hong Kong International Race Day especially after hearing the feedback from ratings analyst Gary Crispe.

“Gary said that if he ran to the rating he recorded at Moonee Valley [when he won the Manikato Stakes] in the Hong Kong race, over the past five runnings of the Hong Kong Sprint, he would have finished third,” the Warwick Farm horseman said.

“I said I wasn’t going there if I didn’t think he could finish in the first five or six and with that knowledge that his rating is solid and the fact that this year’s race might be a little weaker than usual, it’s the best year for him to go.”

Rebel Dane had his last Australian trial leading up to his trip on Tuesday morning at Rosehill Gardens with Victorian hoop Ben Melham flying up for the ride.

Melham will continue associations on the horse in Sha Tin.

Melham let Rebel Dane settle second off the pace set by That’s A Good Idea in the 1000m trial on the course proper before his mount quickened nicely to win by a long neck in a smart 58.2 seconds.

Rebel Dane is set to head to Hong Kong on December 4 and have a week adjusting before the Hong Kong Sprint.

“That should [the trial] have him right to go,” Portelli said.

“I want him to have a few extra kilos on him as we expect him to lose weight on the flight and being such a lightly-framed horse, you don’t want him losing too much and have him looking all ribs.”

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