By MIKE DILLON
Val Langsford says she is feeling her way taking Rebel to the races for the first time for tomorrow's $35,000 Montana Wines Challenge Stakes at Ellerslie.
For most of his career the grossly underrated Rebel was trained by Val Langsford's late husband Ron, who died a few months ago.
"I am not like Ron, I have to rely totally on others," said Langsford yesterday.
Rebel has not raced since chasing Showella home in the group one weight-for-age at Ellerslie in March.
Last season he came back into work in huge physical condition and it took considerable work to trim him down.
He is a lot fitter this preparation, says Langsford.
"He has done a lot of work and although I am guessing a bit, I am pretty sure he is quite right."
Cartilage trouble in a fetlock joint has been a worry for the camp.
"The vets picked it up last year when he came back from Australia.
"He has never been lame on it, but we have to watch his work and we swim him a lot.
"The vets have advised that we beach train him, or at least somewhere where it is level. We will get this race out of the way and then we will reassess what we do with him."
Rebel showed a reasonable level of fitness when he raced away to a four length win at the Cambridge trials last week.
He will need to be close to race fitness to see out the 1600m first start back.
He is up to the very best class at weight-for-age, however, as he showed when he was a desperately unlucky second to eventual Melbourne Cup winner Rogan Josh in the Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington last spring.
Native Chief is the quick improver.
He wilted when resuming at Matamata last week, but should be greatly improved for the run and is ideally suited to 1600m at Ellerslie.
And don't be surprised if Bluebird The Word comes flashing into the trifecta frame in the closing stages.
He did nothing for his novice apprentice when resuming at Ellerslie a couple of weeks ago.
However, with the improvement gained from that race, and with the experienced Mark Du Plessis in the saddle, the outcome here could be a lot different.
Racing: A fitter Rebel should help the cause
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