Lightning may have struck twice for some of the connections of multiple Group One winner Mr Brightside, who have now won four races in a row with another promising galloper sourced from New Zealand.
Rheinberg, who also represents the Lindsay Park stable of Mr Brightside’s trainers Ben, Will and JD Hayes, collected the fifth win of his 10-start career at Sandown.
The Swiss Ace gelding is now unbeaten in his last four, having previously scored at Sale on July 7, Sandown on August 9 and Caulfield on September 2.
“A lot of the ‘Brightside’ owners are in this horse as well, and they bring their families and kids along to the races,” Ben Hayes said.
“This horse is doing a great job for them so far, and hopefully he can keep stepping up.
“He’s doing his job, going through the grades and everyone’s having a lot of fun. As long as he pulls up well from this, we’ll go again, because he’s a happy horse at the moment.”
Rheinberg was a +160 favourite for Sunday’s race and did the job well in the hands of expat Kiwi jockey Michael Dee.
The five-year-old overhauled the front-running Faretti in the straight, then had enough in reserve to turn back a late challenge from Dashing in the final few strides.
“Credit to this horse, he’s flying at the moment,” Dee said. “He’s not winning by big margins, but he keeps getting the job done.
“He always travels well into his races, and you’ve just got to nurse him for as long as possible. He gives you a good kick when you go for him.
“I’m not sure if the 1400m finds him out in the last few strides or he just floats and stargazes, maybe a bit of both, but he holds on.”
Rheinberg was bred by Westbury Stud owner Gerry Harvey and began his career with three starts in Harvey’s blue and white colours in New Zealand. Trained by Cody Cole at Matamata, he recorded a second, a third and a fifth from his three appearances in March and April of last year before being sold to clients of Lindsay Park.
Rheinberg is by Westbury’s high-strike-rate stallion Swiss Ace, who is the sire of 342 winners from 500 runners. The dam of Rheinberg is the Snitzel mare Schiffer, who won two races and finished third behind Karuta Queen in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m).
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