Guineas and Derby winner Camelot is retired

Brilliant 2-year-old and triple classic winner Camelot has been retired from racing and will stand at Coolmore for the 2014 breeding season.  The son of Montjeu who was being trained for the Breeders’ Cup Turf was found to be lame pulling out this morning and although not a serious injury it would mean missing exercise for at least a week which would preclude him from going to Santa Anita.

An unbeaten Group 1 winner of the Racing Post Trophy as a 2-year-old, Camelot returned to action with a win in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket where he came from near last with only two furlongs to run. He then became only the third horse since Nijinsky to land the Guineas/Derby double following Nashwan and Sea The Stars when scoring by an eased-down five lengths (pictured). Next time out he landed the Irish Derby before losing out narrowly to surprise winner Encke when bidding for Triple Crown glory in the St Leger.

“From the very first time we saw him at the sales we just loved him” said trainer Aidan O’Brien. “He was the perfect racehorse, a beautiful horse with a terrific action. Speed, class and a super-intelligent horse to go with it – he had it all. Unfortunately we never saw the same brilliance on the racecourse as we had done before his colic operation but he was showing signs of it at home in recent weeks so it’s obviously disappointing that he won’t get the opportunity to run again.”

The only Guineas winner by Montjeu, Camelot is out of Kingmambo’s daughter Tarfah, winner of the Group 3 Dahlia Stakes. A 525,000 guineas yearling purchase at Newmarket he was the highest-priced colt to enter training at Ballydoyle that year.