Friday 14 September 2012

Camelot After Nijinsky Triple Crown Record

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Camelot will face eight rivals as he bids to become the first Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970, the name given to treble of Guineas, Derby and Leger in UK.

The three-year-old, trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien, runs in the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday having already won the 2,000 Guineas and Epsom Derby.

Camelot will be O'Brien's only runner after he withdrew stablemates Imperial Monarch and Chamonix on Thursday.

Opponents include Derby runner-up Main Sequence and the John Gosden pair, Thought Worthy and Michelangelo.

Camelot will again by ridden by Aidan's 19-year-old son Joseph and is likely to start an odds-on favourite.

William Buick has chosen to partner Derby fourth and subsequent York winner Thought Worthy, rather than Michelangelo (Frankie Dettori), for Gosden, who has won the last two St Leger runnings with Arctic Cosmos and Masked Marvel.

Camelot will be running over one-and-three-quarter miles for the first time after victories in the Guineas, which is run over a mile, and the mile-and-a-half of the Derby.

His trainer admits the colt will be "out of his comfort zone" when he steps up in distance.

"When they go beyond that mile-and-a-half, that's when the real stamina must kick in," said Aidan, who could also enter the record books as the first trainer to win all five British Classics in the same season.

"Stayers don't build up as much as middle-distance horses, but he's not long or lean, he's round and strong. He's built like a miler."

After the race, O'Brien intends to fly by helicopter to Ireland to watch Fame and Glory in the Irish St Leger at the Curragh.

The trainer has indicated Camelot may stay in training next season as a four-year-old, rather than going straight to stud for a breeding career, as perceptions about the right time to retire top thoroughbreds change.

"Before, it was make a stallion and get him off quick," O'Brien said.

"Now it's make a stallion and expose him - push him a bit. People want to see horses being tested, expose their weaknesses and their strengths."

Camelot, who is unbeaten in five races, won the Irish Derby at the Curragh on his last run on 30 June.

Nijinsky was trained at the same Ballydoyle base in County Tipperary as Camelot by the late Vincent O'Brien, who was no relation to Aidan.

Lester Piggott rode Nijinsky to victory in 1970 and believes Camelot is capable of landing the hat-trick.

"Camelot can emulate Nijinsky," he said.

"He's a very good horse and there's no reason why he shouldn't get the trip."

St Leger entries 
1 CAMELOT Aidan O'Brien IRE
2 DARTFORD John Gosden
3 ENCKE Al Zarooni
4 GUARANTEE William Haggas
5 MAIN SEQUENCE David Lanigan
6 MICHELANGELO John Gosden
7 THOMAS CHIPPENDALE Sir Henry Cecil
8 THOUGHT WORTHY John Gosden
9 URSA MAJOR Tommy Carmody IRE

Triple Cown
Race 1: 2,000 Guineas, one mile, Newmarket, usually early May
Race 2: Derby, Epsom, 1m 4f, early June
Race 3: St Leger, Doncaster, 1m 6f, mid-September

In US, Triple Crown is Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes


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