Rebel Racer burns rivals early, hangs on to win the Adelaide Cup
Rebel Racer’s stunning Adelaide Cup victory was just a snapshot of the way he’s progressed under trainers Amy and Ash Yargi.
The six-year-old gelding and $26 outsider with top betting sites displayed remarkable stamina to lead all the way in the Group 2 staying feature worth $302,250 over 3200m at Morphettville on Monday.
Craig Newitt showed all his experience to dare the rest of the field to catch him.
They could not take him up on that bold challenge, with runner-up Aurora’s Symphony finishing a third of a length behind.
If the nature of Rebel Racer’s incredible win wasn’t enough, Amy Yargi told racing.com her and husband Ash purchased him as a tried horse from Mark Kavanagh for $35,000.
Originally the Adelaide Cup was the last thing on Amy’s mind.
In fact, her first goal was to have him racing at the Warrnambool hurdles.
“I’m so happy – I can’t believe it,” Yargi said.
“I bought him to win a maiden hurdle at Warrnambool; I’m not even joking.
“He just kept on improving and improving, and he was crying out for a trip.
“I’ve got to thank Mark Kavanagh – he told me to buy him.
“So thank you Mark, and I’m sorry. He probably didn’t want me to go on and win an Adelaide Cup with him.
“I feel a little bit bad, but I’m very grateful and there’ll be a present for you.”
If it wasn’t for Yargi’s instincts, she might not have ended up with the horse which has changed her life.
“I honestly can’t believe it. I nearly broke the outside rail I was smashing it so often, I can’t believe it’s just happened,” she said fighting back tears.
“Top (career moment) by a million miles. It’s such a time-honoured race and I’ve only had the horse a small amount of time.
“I was nearly going to stop at $30,000, too.
“But I went one more because I wanted him. I thought he was a really beautiful horse, and I’m bloody glad I did.”
Yargi said Rebel Racer’s hurdle work only hardened him physically and mentally for his upset Adelaide Cup triumph.
“We scored him a few times, and I think that’s probably been the turning point with him too,” she said.
“That’s because he was actually ungenuine when we were schooling him, and I think that’s been the key to turning his form around.”
Newitt had the racing nous to believe he could crank up Rebel Racer’s speed just over halfway into the race.
“I knew there’d be a few moves – there always are in this sort of race,” he said.
“But he just got into a beautiful rhythm. He pricked his ears and every time I asked him to improve a little bit he did.
“I got to about the 1400 and I actually started to build from the 1400 because I wanted to be going before the back-markers started to make their run.
“There were some proper horses who on their class they looked well above.
“But I was in a spot where I had to make them carry their weight a bit.
“I was able to crank it up a fair way out.”
Like Yargi, 33-time winning Group 1 hoop Newitt believes Rebel Racer’s hurdle work has only made him a better stayer.
“I actually rode him when Mark Kavanagh had him as an early three-year-old, and he used to probably go a tad too quick,” he said.
“But those logs have slowed him down a bit and toughened him up.
“They’ve obviously got jumping on the horizon for him, but he’s probably prolonged that for a little bit longer now.”