Fire burns brightly in O’Brien as Rebel Dane rewards faith shown in stallion
Gary Portelli-trained juvenile brings up a fifth winner for Glen Eden sire, who covered a record book this breeding season
When Rory O’Brien stepped up in September to the challenge of co-director at Victorian outfit Glen Eden Stud, he shouted from the rooftops to anyone that would listen about the simmering potential of their formative stallion Rebel Dane (California Dane).
Three months on, and his prophecy is speaking with results on the racetrack that suggests the stallion’s exploits are very much unheralded.
Rebel Dane, who had 28 live first-crop foals, had last season secured a first stakes winner in May through the Matthew Dunn-trained Subterranean, who landed the Ken Russell Memorial Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at the Gold Coast, and formed one of three juvenile winners for the stallion in his freshman season from just seven runners.
On Saturday, Rebel Dane’s Fireburn drew readily clear in a 1200-metre juvenile handicap at Randwick, a result which saw the filly become a fifth winner for the stallion from just 13 runners across his first two crops of racing age.
Fireburn defeated the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Uncorked (Pierro) by a length and a half, with Himalaism (I Am Invincible), a son of Group 1 winner Snitzerland (Snitzel), finishing third.
“I was pretty bullish about Rebel Dane. You’ve got to believe in your product. I took this job on the back of Subterranean’s first stakes win. I think I saw something in Subterranean that didn’t look like a fluke to me, he won really well,” O’Brien told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“And the filly yesterday, Fireburn, she was very strong through the line and I couldn’t help but think if she was allowed to go an extra couple hundred of metres she would have put an extra gap on them than what she did.”
Fireburn is trained by Gary Portelli and carries the silks of Louis Mihalyka’s Laurel Oak Bloodstock, the same connections that delivered her sire Rebel Dane to two Group 1 victories on the track in the 2013 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and the 2016 running of the Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m). And, while Portelli and Mihalyka might be celebrating the beginning of what could well be another exciting prospect on the racetrack for them, the potential impact on their old ally Rebel Dane will be possibly more profound.
Rebel Dane covered 92 mares across his first four seasons at stud, the last two years numbers had fallen to 11 and 14. However, off the back of exploits from Subterranean the stallion has experienced somewhat of a revival, having covered a book of circa 50 mares during the latest breeding season at a fee of $8,800 (inc GST).
“He’s going well and the stats are adding up,” O’Brien said. “He’ll have a couple of lean years coming with the numbers he’s got, but you can certainly see positive signs for the horse.
“He’s covered a record book this year, it looks like he’ll scrape into around the 50 mark, which is a significant improvement.
“Up until around November, he still only had three winners … It took an amount of effort to sell him still, but people learned to trust me through what I was telling them and what I told them was coming, and it’s starting to stack up a little bit. Those sort of (strike-rate) numbers, from the sample size, is ridiculous.
“I fully expect him to improve again with nominations next year, that’s the plan, to break records year on year.”
Bred by Mihalyka’s Laurel Oak Bloodstock, Fireburn is the first foal out of the winning So You Think (High Chaparral) mare Mull Over, a $22,000 buy for Laurel Oak Bloodstock at the 2018 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, and herself a half-sister to dual Listed winner Galizani (Galileo), with Mull Over sent to Rebel Dane for her first cover.
“It’s one of those nice things in racing that they’ve believed in him as a stallion for so long, and that belief is unwavering. These guys are clever guys, and who was I to not follow them in with their judgement? Louis is great with pedigrees and some of the other owners like Ken Lowe and Steve Grant, those guys have been steadfast in their support of the stallion,” O’Brien added.
“I hope they know that their support doesn’t go unnoticed, and I hope they notice the hard work we’ve done at our end as well.”
Among Rebel Dane’s five winners, four have struck at a metropolitan level, a strike-rate that sees him up with the elite stallions of his crop from just limited numbers and opportunities and those are statistics that O’Brien has been at pains to convey in order to highlight the potential of the stallion to breeders.
His winners have included the Rebecca Waymouth-trained juvenile scorer Lloyd’s Crown, who in the spring ran third behind Coolmore’s Ranch Hand (Fastnet Rock) and Godolphin’s Ingratiating (Frosted) in the Poseidon Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Flemington. Furthermore, and under the same connections as Fireburn, Rebel Shadow broke his maiden at Canterbury last month and it’s these results that O’Brien believes is once again creating a buzz around Rebel Dane on the sales ground.
“Lloyd’s Crown has also recently come on to the scene. He had a second against a well fancied Busuttin and Young horse and then came first in his second run, beating the same horse. He came along around the same time as Subterranean and people started to talk about him at the sales with me and such, and I can just feel that coming again,” O’Brien said.
“He probably didn’t handle the straight second up, he just shied away a little, but Rebecca Waymouth has done an outstanding job with him.”
O’Brien, who joined long-time owner Sonia O’Gorman at the helm of Glen Eden, having joined the stud in a sales capacity in March, holds lofty plans for the breeding operation, and yesterday revealed the stud will look to establish a racing presence on the track, having recently created a legal entity under which to run their homebreds.
“It’s exciting times for us as well having bred to Rebel Dane. He’s probably covered a little bit more quality this year, and we’re probably going to race some of those. That shows what we are; a passionate racing stud on the up,” O’Brien said.
“We’re hoping to have our first runner in the Glen Eden colours mid next year with Glen Eden Bloodstock Pty Ltd now established, and that will cover our racing and breeding interest.
“It’s to showcase our ability to be able to breed runners. As much as we would like to become a future commercial stud and have success in selling our progeny, I think it’s important for us to be identified as people that know racing and can be successful at that, too. We never want to lose that connection.
“There’s plenty more to come, and although it’s a long-term plan, I’m certainly going hell for leather to get some traction.”