Bluestocking’s Arc Success Continues Camelot’s Super Season

Camelot’s tremendous season reached new heights on Sunday when Bluestocking (4f Camelot - Emulous, by Dansili) triumphed in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, while longtime leader Los Angeles (Camelot) made it a 1-3 for their sire.

Ralph Beckett’s hugely progressive filly was supplemented for the race following her second Group 1 win in the Prix Vermeille, while came over Sunday’s course and distance. One of three fillies to line up in the prestigious contest, the daughter of Camelot was sent off second-favourite under regular partner Rossa Ryan and tracked the leaders for much of the way. Ridden to lead two furlongs from home, she stayed on strongly to score by a length and a quarter, with another length and a half back to Aidan O’Brien’s charge in third.

The winning rider later revealed he had high hopes coming into the race. “When I dissected the form I was fairly confident, but I wasn’t confident enough to tell anyone. A horse can really change your life and she has mine. It's all down to her trainer and the team at home. They've made my dreams come true. To do it on a global stage is what it's all about.

“She has fulfilled what I possibly thought she could do and all credit to the two men sitting next to me. I’m just the lucky one to be on her, but there are a lot more people who have done a lot more work than me with her.”

Beckett didn’t share Ryan’s optimism, perhaps influenced by Westover’s defeat 12 months prior. “I never thought she would do it, not really,” he said. “I thought she would run well but I never thought it would happen. She has been going hard at it all year. I've never trained a filly with her constitution. For her to have developed through this year as she has is just extraordinary.”

Owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms, Bluestocking is bred on the same Camelot/Dansili cross as her dual Group 1 winning rival Los Angeles. They and Luxembourg make up Camelot's three Group 1 winners this season.