A DOUBLE AT IPSWICH FOR A STABLE ON THE MOVE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 9, 2026

Trainer William Kropp had a good day out at Ipswich on May 8, taking home two winners on the day … Our Brave Lini, who saluted in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1960m and Piston Rebel who crossed the line first in a Class 2 Handicap over 1666m.

Both of the William Kropp trained winners were ridden by Brandon Lerena.

These results continue the fine run of form for the young trainer who, taken over his last fifty runners, is striking at a very impressive twenty-four percent winning strike rate.
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Our Brave Lini, essentially, has yet to run a bad race. The three-year-old daughter of Heroic Valour was winning at the seventh attempt here, after finishing either second or third in three of her previous four starts over distances ranging from 1200m to 1400m when jumping at starting prices as extreme at $1.90 and $41.

The step up in distance here to 1950m was a significant move, but clearly a well measured one by the stable, and punters followed that lead with Our Brave Lini being installed as the $3.80 second favourite.

Kropp Racing also had a second representative in the race with the Matt Kropp trained Cryption’s Desire jumping as a $6 chance … and it was the latter, ridden by Fred Larson, who went up to sit outside the leader, the $3.30 favourite Secret Fenkel as the field left the home straight for the first time, while Lerena was happy to take Our Brave Lini back to the rear of the field, happy to bide his time.

Cryption’s Desire pushed forward and took up the running as the field headed for the back straight and Larson allowed him to continue to stretch out and open up a commanding four length lead by the 1000m mark.

Cryption’s Desire was then given a breather in the sweep to the home turn which allowed Secret Frankel to close within a length of the Matt Kropp trained runner, with the balance of the field starting to pack up behind that, but that ‘breather’ in turn allowed Cryption’s Desire the ability to have a ‘kick’ in reserve on straightening, and he put that to good effect when again kicking clear early in the home straight by two lengths to open up what looked to possibly be a race winning lead, but two factors, which came into play over the final 100m, changed the outcome of the race.

Firstly, that early effort began to take its toll on Cryption’s Desire … and, secondly, Our Brave Lini, who had hardly warranted a mention until that stage, starting to wind up a strong finishing effort after saving ground on the turn and slipping closer to the action.

As Cryption’s Desire began to weaken, Our Brave Lini, after her more relaxed early passage, got stronger and she quickly gained momentum. Now full of running, she sliced her way between runners before going past Cryption’s Desire (who would hold on for second place) to score what would ultimately go down as a soft win.

Our Brave Lini and Cryption’s Desire thus gave Kropp Racing the race quinella.
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Seven races later William Kropp was back in the winner’s enclosure, this time with the Love Conquers All gelding Piston Rebel … a result which took the four-year-old’s record to three wins from only nine starts, the last two of those wins coming in successive races.

The first of those back-to-back wins also came at Ipswich over 1700m in a Class 1 Handicap on soft going … this time it was over 1666m in a Class 2 Handicap on good going.

Piston Rebel, who jumped on the second line of betting at $4.80, wasn’t the best away from the worst of the draw (barrier ten out of ten) and halfway through the race Piston Rebel still raced at the rear of the field, trailing the leader by a touch under nine lengths,

Shortly after passing the 800m mark though, Brandon Lerana thought that was enough of that and he asked Piston Rebel to begin an early forward move and Piston Rebel appeared to do that with some relish, chasing to within three lengths of the lead turning into the home straight, albeit having done all of that work in at least a three wide position, before straightened all of five wide.

With a clear un to the line, it now became a question of whether Piston Rebel could sustain his run, and the answer to that arrived soon enough as Piston Rebel kept coming at a rate which carried him into the lead inside the final 150m and, with no let-up in his commitment, Piston Rebel was already home and hosed over the concluding stages, carving out a decisive winning margin of 1.61 lengths.
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That completed a set of two come from last winners for William Kropp on the day.

While winning is the first priority, how a horse wins is as important.

For that, Our Brave Lini and Piston Rebel deserve huge credit.
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And to make things even better … later in the day, the Willaim Kropp stable completed a two-venue treble when Amenophis triumphed in a BM70 Handicap over 1200m at Toowoomba in what was only the second start for the stable for the six-year-old, thirty-start ‘veteran’.

Amenophis had been a consistent performer for trainer Philip Minter before relocating to the Kropp yard … moving across having recorded a win, five second places and four third places from his last eleven starts in Minter’s care, and he held that level of consistent placed form in his first start for his new stable when he finished second in a BM70 contest over 1000m at Toowoomba in his first start after a four-and-a-half month break from race action.

Now, two weeks later, with the stable already having two winners in the bank at Ipswich, Amenophis, fitter for that first-up run and increasing the distance test from 1000m to 1200m, went one better winning as a $3.60 favourite by a comfortable 1.16 length margin under the guidance of Fred Larson.

Overall, this was Amenophis’s fourth career win and it took his stakes earnings past the $100 000 mark.

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