Oustanding Year Continues For Camelot With Record Breaking Sale

Lingfield Derby Trial victor English King (3c Camelot - Platonic, by Zafonic) smashed records when selling to Australian interests for 925,000gns at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale on Wednesday.

The Ed Walker-trained wildcard entry was expected to prove popular, but few could have predicted the manner in which he surpassed the previous 625,000gns record price for a colt at the sale. Armando Duarte saw off a determined effort by Ted Voute to secure the son of Camelot on behalf of Australian-based agent Paul Moroney and his brother Mike’s Ballymore Stables.

Explaining English King’s appeal, Paul Moroney said, “English King’s track-record performance winning the Lingfield Derby Trial, beating St Leger runner-up Berkshire Rocco, was one of the most breathtakingly dominant performances anywhere this year. He is clearly a highly talented colt with loads of quality and we are thrilled to have secured him.”

The colt’s sire was another key factor, the agent added, “Through their joint sire Camelot and with similar race records at the same stage, English King maps the same as last weekend’s Group 1 Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet.”

Campaigned by Bjorn Nielsen, English King gained his maiden win as a two-year-old, and after taking the Derby Trial in record time, finished fifth in the Epsom Derby won by Serpentine (Galileo). He was sourced as a yearling by Jeremy Brummitt; the man also responsible for purchasing Russian Camelot (Camelot) as a yearling. The latter created his own piece of history earlier this year when winning the Group 1 South Australia Derby, and thus became the first Northern Hemisphere-bred horse to win an Australian Derby. The Danny O’Brien-trained colt went on to win the Group 1 Underwood Stakes and most recently finished third behind Sir Dragonet (Camelot) in the Cox Plate.