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Rebel Dane had to settle for second best in the TJ Smith Stakes but for trainer Gary Portelli that was good enough – for now.

When Portelli planned Rebel Dane’s first-up assault on the $2.5 million race, Lankan Rupee was a Group Three winner.

Since then he has established himself as the country’s sprint champion with wins in the Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket Handicap.

Rebel Dane’s performance to run second to him pleased Portelli who is now planning future Group One targets in his absence including the All Aged Stakes on Saturday week.

“He showed he’s the second best sprinter with his TJ performance,” Portelli said.

“He didn’t handle the wet track and he’s run into a superstar.

“(Jockey) Glen Boss was rapt and I’m very proud of him.

“We’ll look at maybe stepping up to the 1400 metres of the All Aged now before he goes to Brisbane for the BTC Cup and the Doomben 10,000.”

A Group One 1400m winner of the Rupert Clarke Stakes in the spring, Rebel Dane ran past Queensland star Buffering in the final 50 metres of the TJ

From the final Australian-conceived crop of Darley stallion Shamardal, the Laurel Oak-part owned Better Land scored in impressive fashion on his racetrack debt at Sale on April 6.

Secured from the 2013 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale from the draft of Edinglassie Stud for $400,000, the son of former top-class Redoute’s Choice juvenile Amelia’s Dream looked very classy in his three length victory.

While it is only the first winner from the mare, if the calibre of the success of Brilliant Land’s victory is anything to go by, then Amelia’s Dream looks capable of becoming a very good broodmare.

Brilliant Land has now headed to the paddock and looks a very capable type for the spring with many top lass stakes races on offer to the three-year-olds early in the piece highlighted by the Group One Golden Rose.

Congratulations to all fellow owners; R A Pegum, Laurel Oak Shamrock (Mgr: L J Mihalyka, Ramsey Pastoral Company Pty Ltd (Mgr: S B Ramsey), D J Tamblyn, R S Willis, Mrs J M Tamblyn, D J Tamblyn, R V 8 (Mgr: R V Dulhunty), M R Tudehope, B N E Hastie, M J Forsdick, A N Fitzgerald, Lanista Thoroughbreds (Mgr: S C Cook), A W Reichard.

Click here to view the pedigree of Brilliant Land as a yearling.

Track conditions may have been unfavorable, but Glen Boss was still delighted with how TJ Smith aspirant Rebel Dane trialled.

Glen Boss predicts Rebel Dane will announce his arrival as one of the country’s elite sprinters when he returns in next month’s $2.5 million TJ Smith Stakes.

Boss partnered the Gary Portelli-trained horse in a race day gallop at Rosehill on Saturday and came away adamant the four-year-old felt superior to the spring when he won the Group One Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.

“What I see there is a fully mature colt. He’s always been a bit immature and weak and he’s been doing it all on raw ability,” Boss said.

“I’d say he’s in the top three or four sprinters going around at the moment.

“Last preparation he was probably in the top five, now he’s top three and he’s gone to another level.”

Rebel Dane pictured below winning the G1 Sir Rupert Clark Stakes on September 29, defeating Fontelina, Solzhenitsyn and Speediness.

This is a good time to analyse your broodmares in preparation for the 2014 booking season. We would reasonably expect that the more-popular stallions, particularly from a future sales point of view, will be subject to their usual booking frenzy over the Easter yearling period.

We stay in close touch with all the major studs with regard to possible and likely stallion additions for the 2014 breeding season, so we expect that the only major stallion additions for the coming season will be late retirements in either hemisphere.

For more information on the Brain Pedigree Analysis, click here or head over to the Contact page here.