Russian Camilla’s Kempton success a victory for astute bloodstock investors from Down Under
A group of bloodstock investors prominent in the southern hemisphere market will weigh up whether to cash in the sister to dual Group 1 winner Russian Camelot (Camelot) at next month’s Tattersalls December Mares Sale after the two-year-old filly lived up to expectations in the UK.
An astute private purchase by a syndicate led by UK agent Johnny McKeever, Russian Camilla is the sister to Victorian trainer Danny O’Brien’s northern hemisphere-bred Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) placegetter, and the filly made an immediate impact in a Fillies’ Novice Auction Stakes (1m) at Kempton in the early hours of yesterday (Australian time).
The Sylvester Kirk-trained Russian Camilla overcame a slow getaway and an inside draw to score by a head under Irish jockey PJ McDonald, justifying connections’ high opinion of the “typical Classic European stayer”.
“To come from ten lengths off after breaking last and then to go through the pack, it was like a miracle, really. I don’t know how she did it, but Sylvester thinks that she is a very, very good filly indeed,” McKeever said from Sydney yesterday.
“Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have run as a two-year-old or this early, but we’ve got an entry in the December Sale for her, so we thought we better advertise her a little bit because she’s been showing a lot on the gallops.
“She’s probably, to be totally honest, a three-year-old next year. That is the type of filly she is, she will get over a trip.”
The partnership, whose identities McKeever is keeping quiet for now, has a conundrum of what to do with Russian Camilla after her value was boosted following the eye-catching victory.
“She’s 16.2 and very narrow at the moment with masses of development still to do,” he said.
“She’s got a lot of leg and she has a typical classic European stayer build. That would be her absolute minimum trip, over a mile last night. It was lovely to see her attitude as she’s never been to the races and she’s never even been to a racecourse for a gallop before.
“If the race had been over nine furlongs, she would have won easily, or if she’d broken properly and got near the lead she would have won by five lengths.
“We will make a decision on whether we keep her or sell her and it’s a nice problem to have. If we keep her, we will be aiming too high at the moment probably, but that thought would be a prep race like the Musidora Stakes and the (Epsom) Oaks.
“It might not be a realistic dream but it’s a dream that is possible with her pedigree.”
Russian Camillia was initially passed in for €28,000 at the 2019 Goffs Ireland Orby Yearling Sale before the mostly southern hemisphere partnership swooped on the filly after McKeever and his wife Susie inspected her at Kirk’s Lambourn stables on Boxing Day last year.
“We stayed at my brother-in-law’s place for Christmas in Herefordshire, so we were passing through Lambourn on the way back to Newmarket on Boxing Day. Sylvester pulled her out and walked her up and down the yard for us and I had a chat to him about her. I rang the guys up (in Australia) and said, ‘let’s buy’,” said McKeever, who has remained in Australia since the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January.
Before committing to the purchase of the Tim Hyde and Paul Shanahan-owned filly, McKeever also consulted with fellow agent Hubie De Burgh about the soon-to-named Russian Camilla who is catalogued as Lot 1667 at the Tattersalls auction.
“She was at the Orby sale and I actually had no notes on her. I hadn’t looked at her, so I asked my mate Hubie what he thought and I think he’s a fantastic judge, particularly of staying horses, and he said that he’d given her really nice notes but she was too backward for what his orders were after,” the agent recalled.
“I can see how she got overlooked. Camelots can get a bit overlooked in Ireland – maybe not so much now, but last year he wasn’t as hot.”
At the time of the filly’s acquisition, Russian Camelot had won a Ballarat maiden and finished runner-up in the Connoisseur Stakes (Listed, 1800m) at Flemington. Since then he has raced another eight times, for wins in the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and Underwood Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m) as well as placings in the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), Caulfield Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and the Cox Plate.
He also ran a gallant eighth in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) after looming up like the winner early in the straight.
“I was just saying to the boys, this is a miracle because quite often you buy a half-sister to a horse because you hear it’s good and it turns out not to be so good or there’s a hard-luck story,” he said after staying up to watch the Kempton race and the US election coverage.
“We had to set her to win a race to try and advertise her and to be able to do that is unheard of.
“It doesn’t normally go by the script, but in this case it has, and we have got to make sure we make wise decisions from now on.”
Russian Camilla’s success came soon after his Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase, the Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes-trained Finance Tycoon (Written Tycoon), won Tuesday’s Maribyrnong Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) at Flemington.