Camelot On Target For Elite Status

[Wandering Eyes]

Like some two-year-old maidens and newcomer races that promise to give us a first glimpse of future stars, it’s equally exciting observing a young stallion progress in his first two years with runners at the races. And we are all just as pleased when a new super sire appears on the scene, especially one that promises to contribute to our longer races. The latest that could possibly fit that description is the 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Camelot (GB), who has come up with two G1 winners among his first crop in Irish Derby hero Latrobe (Ire) and Belmont Oaks heroine Athena (Ire). The son of Montjeu (Ire) made rapid late progress last year with his first juveniles but it was to be expected that he’d really shine with his first three-year-olds. And there’s no doubt that Camelot has the profile to go all the way to the top. In terms of his elite runners, he’s already got the best set of ten runners as assessed by Timeform, among the sires who retired in 2014. Currently they have an average rating of 111.1, a figure we can expect to be much higher by the end of the season. But it will need to be if he’s to break into the top ten sires in the past 20 years – he’s currently 6.7lbs per horse shy of where Galileo (Ire) was at the end of year two, and 7.8lbs per horse adrift of Frankel (GB).

That said, top-class stallions don’t have to get to the front this soon in their career. It took six years before Galileo to put together a set of ten horses that had the best average Timeform rating among his contemporaries. Furthermore, Camelot’s ratio of Stakes winners – another metric that should rise through the year – is currently identical to what Galileo recorded at the end of his second year. It’s not hard to imagine him joining Galileo, Sea The Stars (Ire) and Teofilo (Ire) as top-class sources of quality staying horses, particularly if breeders trust him with their best mares.

 

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