Aidan O'Brien shows full confidence in Camelot
Aidan O'Brien believes that his runner, Camelot, will make a solid impression in the Investec Derby at Epsom in England after his solid performance in the 2000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket.
The three-year-old colt was rated as hot favourite for that event and managed to meet the expectations of everyone. He was given a tough time by French Fifteen, but finished ahead of him by a neck distance in the end.
The most impressive thing in the race was the speed of Camelot. He was quick at the start and kept on pressing hard as the race progressed. He was expected to win by a bigger margin though, but his team was still satisfied with the overall result.
This victory was the third consecutive one for Camelot, who has been performing brilliantly since making debut back in 2011. He is expected to continue his dominant form in the future events as well, but there is some doubt over his stamina in longer distance
events.
However, O’Brien was confident that his trainee had the speed and stamina to match the best in the business at any level. He claimed, “Being by Montjeu, you would have to be optimistic that he will stay, but there are also serious Danehill and Kingmambo
traits in Camelot, and he has always been a horse with tremendous speed. However, I have not seen anything to suggest that he will not stay the trip at Epsom, but we won't find out until the day.”
He went onto say, “Epsom is a unique atmosphere and can get to many horses and while Camelot is a calm individual and very relaxed, like so many with such an explosive burst of acceleration he has lots of nervous energy, so we have to be careful with him,
and he won't do too much more work before the big day.”
Furthermore, O’Brien admitted that he was a touch nervous before heading to Epsom. He said that he had a similar situation before the 2000 Guineas Stakes, but Camelot did not disappoint him back then.
However, the pressure will be a touch more next time around, which will definitely test the stamina of the lightning quick colt.
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