Shaquille poised to shoot for Commonwealth crown

Molly Hunter
May 24, 2023 11:38 am

Royal Ascot an ‘obvious option’ for Newbury winner.

Julie Camacho’s Shaquille is Royal Ascot bound after his smart success in the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury.

The Charm Spirit colt has done little wrong in six runs so far, winning five of those outings and looking to takes strides forward each time.

He began this year with a handicap victory at Newmarket, prevailing by two and three-quarter lengths despite a less than perfect run, and he was then a comfortable victor when making the running in the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury.

Having taken that Listed race by two lengths, another step up in class beckons as the colt is likely to to take his place in next month’s Group One Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

Steve Brown, Camacho’s husband and assistant, said: “He taken his exertions well from the weekend, he’s had a few quiet days but he’ll be back in full exercise by the end of the week.

He shoots, he scores 🏀

Shaquille is not for catching in the Listed Carnarvon Stakes under @the_doyler 💥
An exciting contender in the Commownealth Cup for the @JCamachoRacing team!
pic.twitter.com/IoJjwM5Qmq
— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) May 20, 2023

“The next obvious option is to go to Ascot with him for the Commonwealth Cup, we’re pleased with what he’s doing as he seems to be settling into his racing and showing a bit more maturity.

“He keeps finding a bit of improvement, so at the minute we feel as though that’s the right option. We’ll ask him for a little bit more and see what he’s got to say.

“Saturday will be informative at Haydock (the Sandy Lane Stakes), we’ll see what comes out of that.”

Shaquille made all at Newbury (Steven Paston/PA)

Shaquille, who was bred by one of his co-owners and is by a Galileo mare in Magic, has impressed connections not only in his ability on the track but also with a constitution that seems to thrive on racing.

Brown said: “The fascinating thing with this horse is that he never comes home tired, he always comes home and says ‘well that was OK, what are we doing next?’.

“He had a long day, he travelled down to Newbury and back in a day and within an hour he’d eaten his tea up and he was ready to do whatever you asked of him next.”