Autumn Rebel came of age as a 3yo but missed his entire 4yo season before scoring a second-up victory in Saturday’s Bisley Workwear Hcp (1600m) at Belmont.

The Darren McAuliffe-trained 5yo was injured and sidelined for 16 months after a midfield finish in the 2024 G2 WA Derby (2400m) won by A Lot Of Good Men (A Lot) and is wasting no time making inroads for McAuliffe and a syndicate led by his Impressive Racing partner Kevin Berry.

Autumn Rebel (5g The Autumn Sun – Rebel Queen by Universal Ruler) settled off the speed set by Bayhara (Almanzor) and received a nice cart into the race tracking Becalotti (A Lot) towards the home turn.

Reacting to a vigorous Brad Parnham ride in the straight, he prevailed in a head-bobbing finish to defeat Odinaka (A Lot) by a half-head.  “He has a heck of a lot of ability and has returned really well from that lengthy break,” McAuliffe said.  “It’s been a long prep building and bringing him back.

“He could have gone a mile first-up but I wanted to keep him effective for today.  It’s a fine balance and now he can hopefully go through the classes.”

Parnham is also confident Autumn Rebel can make up for lost time this season.  “He was strong through the line over 1400m a fortnight ago and appreciated the rise in trip today.  We had a trouble-free run three-wide with cover and he responded when the other horse kicked for Jade (McNaught).”

A homebred for Impressive Racing, he’s a half-brother to Territories (Ire) mare Rebelzone who completed a hat-trick as an autumn 3yo at Ascot and Pinjarra (2).  Her maiden cover was to Manhattan Rain last September.

Their dam Rebel Queen has a 2yo filly by St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) and a yearling filly by Grunt (NZ).

Second-dam Rebel Sister (Falbrav) threw Rebel King (Universal Ruler) and Rebelson (Snippetson) to claim a combined 7 Listed events in Perth and third-dam Sister Theresa (At Talaq) went even better with 6-time Group 1 winner Black Heart Bart (Blackfriars).

Impressive Racing 6yo Changing Guard also returned to the winner’s enclosure in the Reliable Asset Maintenance Hcp (1300m) at Belmont on Wednesday.  He launched late for a last-to-first victory with only a length and change covering the first 8 horses home.

He had won a York maiden in March 2023 and followed up with a Belmont hat-trick during the winter months.  But a Bunbury win was all he had to show in the following 12 starts before powering home at the midweek meeting for Clint Johnston-Porter.

Changing Guard (Impending) is a full-brother to Ascot winner King’s Parade and a half-brother to King Of Light (Earthlight) who showed potential winning Pinjarra and Belmont juveniles for Dan Morton last month.

“He’s had foot problems throughout his career but is spot on now thanks to Ross Hall who put some pads on the other day and it’s done the trick,” McAuliffe said.  “He’s a Saturday grade winner with a turn of foot and it was a good result because I thought 1300m might have been a bit short today.”