Shaquille showing his gentle side at stud – Camacho

PA Sport Reporters
January 16, 2024 6:38 pm

Former star sprinter has ‘pleasantly surprised with his temperament’.

Julie Camacho has provided a positive update on how her former stable star Shaquille has settled in at stud, leaving his new handlers “pleasantly surprised” by his friendly manner.

Shaquille rose through the sprinting ranks to claim Group One glory in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and Newmarket’s July Cup, overcoming tardy starts in impressive fashion.

He is now standing at Dullingham Park and is proving popular with broodmare owners ahead of the new mating season.

“I know I’m biased but he is a lovely horse,” said Camacho. “He’s a good-looking horse, he’s got a lovely walk on him, but they weren’t quite expecting that from him.

“I think they have been pleasantly surprised with his temperament as well. I think they were all expecting him to be a bit of a nutter, but he’s not and they’ve found out at Dullingham what a lovely person he is.”

The Boodles July Festival 2023 – July Cup Day – Newmarket Racecourse — Julie Camacho and the winning connections celebrate Shaquille’s July Cup success (David Davies/PA)

Camacho got off the mark for 2024 with well-backed Newcastle winner Dingle, who fittingly carries the purple and white colours of Martin Hughes, just as Shaquille did.

“It’s nice to get going,” added Camacho on Sky Sports Racing. “The horses have been running well but we’ve just been hitting the goalposts rather than the back of the net, but he’s a grand horse is Dingle.

“He’s just moved into Shaquille’s old box and whereas Shaquille was a lovely person, he’s grumpy when I go in to see him in the morning – but you don’t mind when he does that.”

After a quiet winter, Camacho is looking forward to building her Malton string back up.

She said: “We’ve got a few on the go and the other horses will start coming back in.

“We’ll have maybe a dozen two-year-olds, most of them are still in pre-training, including a few we’ve bred ourselves – maybe there will be another Shaquille, we can hope at this stage!”