Loughnane Opens Group 1 Win Account in Germany

UK prodigy steers odds-on favourite Rebel's Romance home in Grosser Preis von Berlin

- Michael Lee

English workhorse Rebel's Romance gave teenage riding sensation Billy Loughnane his first taste of Group 1 success in Germany's €155,000 (S$232,000) Grosser Preis von Berlin (2,400m) at Hoppegarten on Aug 10.

While Rebel's Romance is seven years of age and Loughnane, 19, Godolphin's stalwart galloper would be in relative terms the more seasoned half of the combination, both in terms of Group 1 haul and years of experience.

For starters, when Rebel's Romance made a winning debut in a stakes race at Newcastle in October 2020, Loughnane had not even clocked in his first race ride.

The globetrotting son of Dubawi is now the veteran of 28 starts and 19 wins, including eight at Group 1 level across four countries—Hong Kong, US, Dubai and Germany, where two of them came in that Berlin classic having won his first in 2022, and the other two in Cologne for a perfect four-from-four on their Anglo-Saxon neighbour's soil.

But when Loughnane, the son of trainer Mark, who moved to Worcestershire in England with a young Billy in tow in 2011, finally made his baptism of fire in 2022, a new star was born.

The Irish wunderkind wasted no time in scooping up winners in spades, landing the UK champion apprentice jockey title in 2023.