LEXINGTON, Ky. – Winning the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile and the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf a year ago at Del Mar must have felt pretty good, because the same folks decided to do it again.   Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby pulled the Mile/Turf double in 2021 and did it again on Saturday at Keeneland when Rebel’s Romance rumbled home and won the Turf by 2 1/4 lengths.   Rebel's Romance's win followed Modern Game’s tally in the Mile and, for the second year in a row, gave Appleby and Godolphin three Breeders’ Cup winners in two days. On Friday, Mischief Magic won the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Silver Knott was beaten a nose in the Juvenile Turf.   It was the Aidan O’Brien-trained Victoria Road who nipped Silver Knott, and the O’Brien-trained Stone Age turned in the best race of his career to get second in the Turf. The American mare War Like Goddess split horses in midstretch and came with a run that netted her third.   Fifth-place Nations Pride was a shorter price than Rebel’s Romance for Godolphin and Appleby, with top stable rider William Buick riding. On Rebel’s Romance was James Doyle, who won his first Breeders’ Cup race in his 10th try. Doyle was the third jockey this weekend to win a first Breeders’ Cup race, following Tyler Gaffalione and Junior Alvarado.  :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! Appleby? He seems to win all the races. After the Turf, his Breeders’ Cup record stands at 9-2-1 from 18 starters.   Rebel’s Romance, a towering 4-year-old gelded homebred by Dubawi out of Minidress, by Street Cry, has an even better grass record than Appleby at the Breeders' Cup, the Turf making him five wins from five starts since Rebel’s Romance was switched to grass racing this year. Rebel’s Romance started his career racing on all-weather tracks and dirt, showing enough over the dirt track at Meydan that he was sent to New York for the 2021 Belmont Stakes. Rebel’s Romance was scratched from the Belmont Stakes and the massive, dark bay managed to get himself gelded through a combination of unruly behavior and poor performance. Even now he races in a hood and “can be difficult,” Doyle said. Appleby during the last week had extolled Nations Pride's superior athleticism, saying he was better suited to racing around three tight turns than Rebel’s Romance. He was right, too, but it didn’t matter.   Rebel’s Romance broke all right, but struggled to negotiate the first bend, getting steadied shortly after taking the turn. “He was a little bit raw on the turns," Doyle said. "There were a couple of hairy moments early on.”    Once Rebel’s Romance got onto the home straight for the first time, he got into a better rhythm, racing alone from ninth as Bye Bye Melvin led Channel Maker through moderate splits of 24.91, 49.42, and 1:14.15. Rebel’s Romance negotiated the far turn better the second time he hit it than the first, and once Doyle swung his mount about seven paths wide turning for the wire, Rebel’s Romance kicked into high gear. Getting his final quarter-mile in 22 seconds and change, Rebel’s Romance thundered past Stone Age, who got a great trip under hot-riding Ryan Moore, and proved much the best.   More than twice the price of his favored stablemate, Rebel's Romance paid $13.92 to win and was timed in a course-record 2:26.35 for the 1 1/2 miles on a firm course, earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure. Behind War Like Goddess, Mishriff turned in a creditable career finale and finished fourth, a half-length ahead of Nations Pride. He was followed across the line by habitually slow-starting Broome, Channel Maker, Master Piece, Bye Bye Melvin, Gold Phoenix, Red Knight, Highland Chief, and Nautilus.   Rebel’s Romance won a pair of Group 1s in Germany in his two starts before the Breeders’ Cup, beating, among others, 2022 German Derby winner Sammarco, his form a far cry from this past winter, when he was badly beaten in a pair of dirt races in Dubai.   “The horse is maturing and he’s well-traveled now," Appleby said. "What he’s done this season on the turf rejuvenated a horse that for a moment, we wondered if we were losing him.”    Losing? Appleby scarcely knows what it means in Breeders’ Cup races.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.