Rebel Looks Set for Bright Future

Cairns trainer Stephen Massingham thinks he may have unearthed another potential star after Sydney reject Dark Rebel stormed to victory at Cluden yesterday.

The one time Derby hopeful flashed home to win the TAB BM65 Hcp (1000m) at his first northern run and land the second leg of a winning double for Massingham and owner Tom Hedley.

Massingham won earlier with Stormy Legend in the Hygain Mdn Hcp (1200m).

But it was Dark Rebel that had Massingham already thinking ahead to next year’s carnivals.

Massingham and Hedley purchased Dark Rebel in an Inglis on-line auction “on spec” after the Edward Cummings-trained gelding failed in this year’s Queensland Derby.

“He’s a very nice horse. After the Derby they spelled him for six months and for some reason decided to sell him.

“I talked to Ed Cummings and said what’s the go with him and he said ‘no mate there’s nothing wrong with him, the horse is fine’.

“He owned a share in him and lot of the owners were impatient and they just wanted to get rid of him.

“I said to Tom, potentially, when you look at his form he’s the best horse we’ve ever bought on line. They say what about The Harrovian, but on exposed form he’s had 13 starts and I think he went around in seven group and listed races.

“In a few of those runs he was three to four lengths off some pretty smart horses so coming up here as a 63 rater there’s a lot of scope for him.

“When we bought him he’d been in the paddock for six months so we decided to give him a short campaign. It’s not the right time to be doing it, but he’s handled it and I think he’s a nice horse.

“He’ll probably run in Cairns in a fortnight and then go a spell. He’s definitely a carnival horse.”

Massingham’s training double took his tally of winners since August to 28 and put him well on track to a personal target of 50 winners for the season.

Atherton Tablelands hoop Lacey Morrison continued her golden touch with an impressive winning treble of her own.

Morrison landed two winners for Sharlee Hoffman – Arise My Son and Bonython- before scoring on Yes Dream in the feature, the Magic Millions Country Cup Challenge (1200m).

Yes Dream remains unbeaten at Cluden in six starts and has taken his record to eight wins and two placings from 12 starts for more than $260,000 in prize money.

Pictured: Dark Rebel storms to victory at Cluden yesterday in the TAB BM65 Hcp (1000m).

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