Godolphin bid for a Group 1 double with Coroebus and Rebel’s Romance lining up at two venues on Sunday.
The 2000 Guineas hero Coroebus goes in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville, France and Rebel’s Romance in the Grosser Preis von Berlin, at Hoppegarten, Germany on Sunday.
Coroebus followed up his classic success by taking the St James’s Palace Stakes and lines up against two other Royal Ascot Group 1 winners, the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner Inspiral and the Coronation Stakes heroin State Of Rest as his main rivals in a hotly anticipated clash over the mile distance.
The Charlie Appleby-trained Coroebus beat stablemate and Irish 2000 Guineas winner Native Trail in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket before a battling head success in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The homebred Dubawi colt faces older opposition for the first time having bypassed the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood with a slight setback.
“Coroebus goes to Deauville in good order. We had the setback that ruled him out of Goodwood but he is over that and worked well last week,” Appleby told godolphin.com.
“All of his runs before Royal Ascot were over the straight mile at Newmarket and I think he is more comfortable racing over a straight course, which we get here.
“He is an exciting three year old, who has won both his starts this season, and we are very confident that he can keep his unbeaten record for the year intact.”
Rebel’s Romance, meanwhile, will be bidding for a third straight win on turf as he tackles Group 1 company for the first time.
The 2021 Group 2 UAE Derby winner runs over a mile-and-a-half for Appleby following two impressive wins over stablemate Kemari in a Newmarket Listed race in June and the Group 3 Glorious Stakes at Goodwood in July.
“This is a big step up for Rebel’s Romance but he brings a nice progressive profile into the race, having won both his turf starts,” Appleby said of the four-year-old son of Dubawi.
“We felt this was a nice opportunity to test the waters at this level and we are confident that he won’t disgrace himself.”
