Andrew Caulfield, October 25, 2011-Camelot (GB)
P EDIGREE INSIGHTS
BY
A NDREW C AULFIELD
Saturday, Doncaster, Britain
RACING POST TROPHY-G1, ,200,000, Doncaster,
10-22, 2yo, c/f, 1mT, 1:38.58, gd.
1--s@#CAMELOT (GB), 126, c, 2, by Montjeu (Ire)
1st Dam: Tarfah (GSW-Eng, $151,683),
by Kingmambo
2nd Dam: Fickle (GB), by Danehill
3rd Dam: Fade (GB), by Persepolis (Fr)
(525,000gns yrl >10 TATOCT). O-Derrick Smith,
Michael Tabor & Susan Magnier; B-Sheikh Abdulla
bin Isa Al-Khalifa; T-Aidan O=Brien; J-Joseph O=Brien;
,131,567. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, ,141,679.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk
Nick Rating: D+. Click for the Racing Post chart or the
free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video,
courtesy attheraces.com.
It=s been said that no good horse has a bad name.
While the history of the Thoroughbred disproves that
optimistic theory, the good names come around time
after time. According to the Equineline database,
17 individual horses have been named Camelot, after
the legendary castle
and court associated
with King Arthur.
Indeed the
Arthurian legend has
been a highly popular
source of names with
racehorse owners,
and there have also
been multiple horses
carrying such names
Camelot Edward Whitaker/Racing Post
as Avalon, Excalibur,
Merlin, Guinevere and Morgan Le Fay. What=s more,
colts named after some of the Knights of the Round
Table have matched their namesakes= fame, with Sir
Gallahad III becoming America=s champion sire on four
occasions, while Sir Tristram was champion sire in
Australia five times in a six-year period. Of course,
Round Table was the name of America=s Horse of the
Year in 1958 and champion sire of 1972.
Camelot was also the name chosen for the company
which operates Britain=s national lottery, and--forgive
me--the equine Camelot looks a good bet to hit the
jackpot. He has already shown great authority in
winning the G1 Racing Post Trophy three days ago.
While it isn=t easy to know the exact merit of Camelot=s
performance at Doncaster, any horse who hardly comes
off the bridle to win a Group 1 must have huge
potential, as his odds of 3-1 for next year=s Epsom
Derby illustrate.
Caulfield cont.
Camelot is a son of Montjeu, a stallion I have written
about on a couple of other recent occasions. I wouldn=t
normally shower so much attention on one stallion, but
Montjeu has enjoyed a sensational run of Group 1/Grade
I success over the last six months, thanks to Pour Moi,
St Nicholas Abbey, Fame And Glory, Masked Marvel,
Jukebox Jury, Miss Keller, Sarah Lynx, and now
Camelot. This total of eight winners at the highest level
earns Montjeu a very honorable second place among the
sires of Northern Hemisphere Group 1/Grade I winners,
behind Galileo, who leads the way with a team of 10.
No other stallion has sired more than three Group
1/Grade I winners this year. It is worth pointing out that
Montjeu owes his figure to a total of 194 runners,
compared to Galileo=s 270.
Camelot is Montjeu=s fourth winner of the Racing Post
Trophy, even though the stallion has had only eight
crops of 2-year-olds. You won=t need me to remind you
that the first two, Motivator and Authorized, went on to
victory in the Epsom Derby, while St Nicholas Abbey
missed the Derby, but went to Epsom a year later to
win the G1 Coronation Cup over the Derby course and
distance. Although St Nicholas Abbey missed the main
event, Montjeu boosted his total of Derby winners to
three from his first seven crops when Pour Moi staged
his spectacular last-to-first effort in June, so Camelot is
ideally qualified for Epsom.
Coincidentally, Camelot=s female line has already
shone in an Epsom Classic, as his fourth dam was a
sister to Polygamy, winner of the 1974 Oaks for her
breeder Louis Freedman. Polygamy had earlier failed by
only a short head to catch the Queen=s fine filly
Highclere in the 1,000 Guineas.
Incidentally, having mentioned the topic of names
earlier in this piece, I have no hesitation in nominating
Camelot=s fourth dam, One Over Parr, as one of the
cleverest names ever given to a racehorse. Her dam, the
smart middle-distance performer Seventh Bride,
presumably owed her name to her being a daughter of
the American import Royal Record II. The record number
of wives for an English king was Henry VIII=s total of
six. The sixth wife was Catherine Parr, so a seventh
bride would have been One Over Parr.
One Over Parr was a year younger than Polygamy, so
a lot was expected of her after she had won both her
juvenile starts in the year of her sister=s Classic success.
Unlike Polygamy, One Over Parr didn=t contest the
1,000 Guineas and was soon racing over a mile and a
half. Although she disappointed in the Oaks and Irish
Oaks, she was good enough to win the Cheshire Oaks
and Lancashire Oaks, collecting a Timeform rating of
114 in the process. Her owner=s Cliveden Stud had the
great misfortune to lose Polygamy in her first year as a
broodmare, but One Over Parr was expected to make an
excellent substitute.
All horses in TDN Headline News and TDN American edition
are bred in North America, unless otherwise indicated
She didn=t live up to expectations, though, producing
only three winners from 13 foals, the best of which was
Tom Seymour, a multiple group winner at up to
1 7/8 miles in Italy. She was tried with a wide range of
stallions, including Shakapour and Persepolis, two Group
1-winning sons of Kalamoun, a remarkable but
short-lived stallion. It is One Over Parr=s unraced
Persepolis filly Fade who ranks as Camelot=s third dam.
Mention of Kalamoun is a reminder that mares whose
pedigrees include his sire Zeddaan have played a very
important role in Montjeu=s success story. Montjeu=s
third dam Adele Toumignon was by Zeddaan and
Montjeu=s second dam Toute Cy produced a Group
2-winning stayer inbred 4x3 to Zeddaan.
Montjeu has numerous stakes winners with two lines
of Zeddaan in the first five generations of their
pedigrees. Camelot doesn=t quite scrape into this
category, as his second line to Zeddaan is in the sixth
generation, but it is worth mentioning that Kalamoun
sired the second dam of Montjeu=s St Leger winner
Scorpion and that Kalamoun=s son Kenmare is the
broodmare sire of the Irish St Leger winner Jukebox
Jury. Then there=s Kalamoun=s grandson Kendor, who
sired the dam of the Group 1-winning brothers Corre
Caminos and Recital.
Camelot=s second dam Fickle won the Virginia S. over
a mile and a quarter to become one of three stakes
winners out of Fade, another being the Lingfield Oaks
Trial winner Birdie. Fickle stayed quite well for a
daughter of Danehill, a stallion who sired the dam of
Montjeu=s recent Canadian International winner Sarah
Lynx.
Fickle started her broodmare career in the U.S., with a
visit to Kingmambo. The resultant filly, Camelot=s dam
Tarfah, won five races, the longest being her Group 3
victory in the Dahlia S. over a mile and an eighth.
Tarfah is being given every chance as a broodmare,
visiting Galileo, Montjeu, Cape Cross and Pivotal in her
first four years. Her Galileo filly, Ideal, has won over a
mile and a quarter.
CAMELOT (GB), c, 2009
Nearctic
Natalma
Bold Reason
Fairy Bridge
Special
High Top (Ire)
Top Ville (Ire)
Sega Ville
Tennyson (Fr)
Toute Cy (Fr)
Adele Toumignon
Raise a Native
Mr. Prospector
Gold Digger
Nureyev
Miesque
Pasadoble
Danzig
Danehill
Razyana
Persepolis (Fr)
Fade (GB)
10Fls, 3SW, 1GSP One Over Parr (GB)
Northern Dancer
Sadler’s Wells
Montjeu (Ire)
Floripedes (Fr)
Tarfah
GSW-Eng, 8-5-1-0,
$151,643
4Fls, 2 Wnrs
1G1SW
Kingmambo
Fickle (GB)
SW-Eng
6Fls, 2Wnrs
1GSW
There are several aspects of Tarfah=s pedigree which
suggested that she would do very well with Montjeu.
As a daughter of Kingmambo, she is a granddaughter of
Mr. Prospector. Another granddaughter, this one by
Gone West, produced the Derby-winning Motivator and
another, this time by Woodman, produced his Irish
Derby winner Frozen Fire.
Partly as a consequence of Kingmambo having
Nureyev=s brilliant daughter Miesque as his dam,
Camelot is inbred 3x5x5 to Northern Dancer and 4x5 to
Special. Kingmambo, of course, enjoyed excellent
results with the broodmare daughters of Montjeu=s sire
Sadler=s Wells.
There can be little doubt that Camelot has a pedigree
worthy of a Classic winner, but which Classic?
Apparently the 2,000 Guineas hasn=t been ruled out,
which is fair enough in view of Sadler=s Wells= victory in
the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Kingmambo=s in the French
version. Danehill, the sire of his second dam, was
responsible for two winners of the 2,000 Guineas.
Although the stoutly bred Montjeu has yet to sire a
Classic winner over a mile, Camelot must have a fair
chance of being the first, as his fellow 2-year-olds don=t
appear to be a vintage collection at this stage and he
didn=t look short of speed at Doncaster.