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Juddmonte enjoyed a record-breaking seventh win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as Bluestocking stormed to victory, yet it was a different breeding powerhouse left celebrating the success.
Coolmore stallion Camelot was responsible for three of the top five finishers in Europe's richest race: Bluestocking (winner), Los Angeles (third) and Sevenna's Knight (fifth). It was a result which crowned an excellent season for the fifteen-year-old stallion, which included three Group 1 victories for his leading offspring – Bluestocking, Luxembourg and Los Angeles – and left him clear at the top of the Leading Sire in Europe standings (by winnings).
Mark Byrne, nominations manager at Coolmore, has been delighted with the sire's success: "It's been an absolutely incredible year for him so far. He's the leading sire in Europe, by nearly a million pounds, so if he can hang on to that, that would be a massive feather in his cap. Any stallion that's good enough to do that – it puts them in a whole different stratosphere."
It seems apt that Camelot is arguably enjoying his best season in 2024 – a landmark ten years since retiring to stud in 2014. Winner of the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy (now known as the Futurity), the son of Montjeu was crowned Champion Two Year Old in the UK and Ireland in 2011 and swept into his Classic season with an untarnished reputation. The colt proved he had plenty of heart when battling for a neck victory in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on his return and demonstrated stamina in abundance with a five-length rout in the Derby at Epsom. The Irish Derby followed suit and Camelot's glowing reputation gave hope to the idea of a first English Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970.
Coolmore's dream was not meant to be. Whilst the St Leger, the final race in the Triple Crown, appeared to be at Camelot's mercy with two furlongs to run, the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained Enke denied the Ballydoyle team a fairytale ending. The story suffered a shocking twist a year later, when the winner was found to be one of multiple horses involved in an extensive doping scandal engulfing the Al Zarooni yard. Whilst Enke's drug test for the St Leger was clean, the colt had been subject to the use of steroids earlier in the season, leaving the result to go down in history with a tentative asterisk. Camelot returned as a four-year-old but appeared to have lost some of his previous shine – a testament to the trials and tribulations of a Triple Crown campaign.
Camelot was an immediate triumph at stud, producing Irish Derby hero Latrobe, Group 1-winning juvenile Wonderment and a Grade 1 Belmont Oaks victor in Athena, within his first two crops. The stallion's similarities to sire Montjeu continues to be a considerable enticement for breeders:
"As a stallion, he's very much Montjeu. He's all quality, class and the most beautiful looking individual. He carries a lot of the Montjeu traits as well: a real flighty animal that gets you full of class and quality. It's really synonymous with what Montjeu was an influence for as well."
Whilst Camelot only experienced one shuttle season to Australia in 2014, the stallion has achieved remarkable success Down Under. A first and a third with Sir Dragonet and Russian Camelot in the 2020 renewal of the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley was a breakthrough moment for the sire and he continues to make an impact in Australia, with notable winners such as Saracen Knight (Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes), Hunting Horn (Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup) and King Of Leogrance (Group 2 Adelaide Cup).
"It started with Sir Dragonet winning the Cox Plate that really put Camelot on the on the radar down there. And then Russian Camelot came down, and even though he was born in the northern hemisphere, he still managed to win the South Australian Derby, which was an incredible feat.
"Camelot has been massively successful in Australia and there is a demand for his horses-in-training: if one of his wins a nice middle-distance race up here and they see that it is by Camelot, they carry a premium.
"Whether he'll shuttle again or not, I don't know. He's not getting any younger at the moment but never rule anything out. People send mares to him in the Southern Hemisphere time year in, year out, so he still will have crops, even if they were conceived in Tipperary."
Five of Camelot's top ten offspring (by official rating) raced in 2024. Whilst Bluestocking reached new heights at Longchamp, Luxembourg continued to fly the flag for his sire by recording another Group 1 success in the Coronation Cup, bringing his earnings to a near-top £2,640,155 – only £80,000 behind Bluestocking. The Classic generation may have been spearheaded by Group 1 Irish Derby hero Los Angeles, but Camelot was also responsible for the exciting Dancing Gemini (second in the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains) and Deira Mile (fourth in the Derby and the St Leger): proving the sire's ability to pass on his talent over the varying Classic distances.
"Camelot is the type of stallion that you know is going to get you quality, class and Classic winners - you name it, he'll get you everything. Like we saw from early doors, he struck with an Irish Derby winner, and he's had Luxembourg who won a Group 1 as a two-year-old and the Irish Champion Stakes then Los Angeles, who has obviously been an incredible horse for Ballydoyle this year, another Irish Derby winner.
"Each one of Camelot's crops is arguably going to be a better-bred crop as they come along, because he's having so much success, be it in Australia or the Classics in Europe. There's going to be a better class of mare sent to him each year and the fact that he's going to be in with a great chance of being Leading Sire in Europe this year, means he'll be put in a new stratosphere again."
There are always new stars to discuss from the Coolmore operation, yet the stallion's tenth-year anniversary at stud serves as a timely reminder to revisit old favourites. Camelot's abundance of heart, incredible versatility and raw talent were not exclusive to him alone – the stallion is proving that he can pass all of those qualities onto his offspring, given the opportunity, with no limitations.
"Whilst he gets an awful lot of Classic winners: be it Belmont Oaks, Irish Oaks, Irish Derbies…he can also produce a Group 1 winning two-year-old. You name it, he can do it.
"He's had so many different types of great horses, with a dozen Group 1 winners already and that's a figure that will keep on growing. Watch this space as he's only going to get bigger and better as the years go on. He's like a fine wine, he's only maturing."