“He has continued to step up and keep improving, and after the Guineas, he won’t run again until the Derby. I think that will be the ideal build-up for a horse like him,” Cole said.
Out of the Duelled mare Regalia, who was successful on five occasions, Renegade Rebel has won his last two races with dominant front-running performances in the hands of Matthew Cameron, who takes the reins again.
“We went into the Salver knowing he would run the trip, and he gets to the front and into his own rhythm,” Cole said.
“He does it very easily and covers the ground well. It’s pretty effortless for him, and [he] winds up when he needs to, and we know he will keep finding.
“You go into a lot of these 3-year-old staying races riding a horse conservatively, hoping they run the trip out, but we don’t need to take that approach.
“We know he is best out there doing his own thing, and it’s just a matter of whether he can hold the rest of them out.”
Cole was also in the market for a pair of youngsters during the second session of New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale at Karaka on Monday, including a daughter of El Roca.
“He is a sire that has been pretty good to me, so there’s no point changing. We’ve got a few others with ability,” he said.
Lot 474, offered by Westbury Stud, was purchased with Andrew Williams Bloodstock and is out of the unraced Testa Rossa mare Test My Resolve, a half-sister to the South African Group 3 winner Roy’s Riviera.
Cole also teamed up with fellow trainer Kurtis Pertab to secure Lot 331 for $110,000 out of Curraghmore’s draft.
“He’s one that we will look to trade, most likely at the Ready to Run Sale,” he said.
The Almanzor colt is a half-brother to the Group 3 Rotorua Stakes (1400m) winner Tomelilla, who also claimed a brace of Listed events, and to the Group 3 Waikato Cup (2400m) winner Viktor Vegas with their dam the Dubai Destination mare Purnima.
– Loveracing.nz NZ news desk.
