11 minute read
A Group 1 year
It was some year for team Shaquille with his superb summer Group 1 sprint double, but the Flat season gave so much more to trainer Julie Camacho and husband Steve Brown, writes James Thomas
SHAQUILLE HAS BEEN THE HEAVY metal front man of the 2023 Turf season. Sure, he showed his idiosyncrasies from time to time, but his unique flair and immense talent only served to make this top-class sprinter all the more endearing.
And, moreover, it is not only the three-year-old’s monstrous successes in the Commonwealth and July Cups that have made him so popular, as his backing band have played their part in this remarkable story, too.
Shaquille was born, raised and trained in Malton, with husband and wife team Steve Brown and Julie Camacho responsible for guiding the colt through a career that featured seven wins from nine starts.
They may have harnessed Shaquille’s latent ability, but the couple are far too modest to share in his rock ‘n’ roll theatrics. Instead they toasted their Royal Ascot triumph with sandwiches during the car ride home, and pushed the boat out only a little further with a service station pizza following the July Cup.
In many ways the low-key celebrations neatly illustrate the couple’s approach to training, as they have made a career out of getting the most out of even the humblest of raw materials. But, as Shaquille and others have shown recently, once they get their hands on the right ammunition they know how to hit the target. And if their feet had not remained so firmly on the ground they may never have come this far in the first place.
“I’m a realist so I know the chances of us getting another dual Group 1 winner are slim,” says Camacho as she reflects on the events of the last few months.
That pragmatic outlook almost saw the couple quit the training ranks after they endured some leaner years in the not too distant past.
“It’s a job where hard work doesn’t guarantee you success and there’s plenty of people who put the hours in and never get the reward they deserve,” says Camacho. So what prompted the decision to carry on? “Like a lot of trainers, you end up thinking ‘Well what else can I do?’,” she says.
“I think that’s the case for a lot of us, and I’m not sure I fancied going and working for somebody else having been my own boss for so long.”
Their perseverance has been rewarded in spades. In 2022 the stable sent out a career-best tally of 47 British winners, and this year Camacho became the highest-earning female trainer in a single season with a prize-money haul of over £1,250,000.
The lion’s share of that sum was supplied by Shaquille who was bred by Martin Hughes, co-owner of the colt with Michael O’Shaughnessy and Peter Rawlings, and Michael Kerr-Dineen.
Shaquille is the third foal out of the appropriately named Magic, who was sourced privately from Coolmore before going into training with John Gosden. The daughter of Galileo never reached the racecourse but she has more than earned her keep with her achievements in the paddocks.
Shaquille was born at Battlefield Stud before heading to Star Cottage Stud, where he was raised under the watchful eye of Camacho’s father, Maurice. Once the son of Charm Spirit was old enough to enter training it would be fair to say that he kept his light hidden under a bushel.
“I remember watching him when he cantered up here and you certainly wouldn’t have looked at him and thought ‘wow’,” says Camacho. “Not me, anyway. He’s a nice looking-horse, he’d take your eye in that sense, but I never thought he’d go on to achieve what he did. The first time we thought he might be alright, not a Group 1 horse mind, was when we started to work him upsides other horses. That’s when he started to show us a bit more.”
Shaquille headed to York for a 7f novice stakes on July 22. The date stands out in the Camacho calendar for reasons other than racing as her brother Gavin married his partner Nicole that same day.
“Steve wasn’t going to go to the wedding because we had a first-time-out two-year-old at Thirsk then he was going to go on to York for Shaquille,” Camacho recalls.
“My brother was quite upset that Steve wasn’t coming, so he came for the ceremony then drove back to York; we all watched the race on my phone.”
WHAT THEY SAW made for an enjoyable watch as Shaquille scythed his way through the 13-runner field before sprinting clear to win by a length and a half.
“I’m not saying I expected him to win, but we thought he’d run well at York,” says Camacho. “When our two-year-olds go to the races then if they’re good enough to win that’s great, but it’s more important that they enjoy the experience and want to do it again.
“We are not a betting outfit at all but the team in the yard had a bit on him because he was 100-1 and 50-1 to finish in the first six, which was just silly.”
What the wedding guests wouldn’t have seen on the phone was Shaquille’s pre-race antics, which left one of those tasked with saddling him nursing a broken rib.
“Day to day he’s not a bother so not in a month of Sundays did we expect him to be like that!” says Camacho. “He’d never been off the place before, but it took us completely by surprise.”
After a blip in the Listed Acomb Stakes, Shaquille racked up further juvenile victories at York and Wolverhampton, the latter with the aim of qualifying the promising youngster for the All Weather Championship Finals Day at Newcastle.
The three-year-old contest had been Shaquille’s intended seasonal reappearance, but things didn’t go to plan as he refused to enter the stalls.
“Newcastle was a complete disaster because the winter had all revolved around him running there,” says Camacho. “That was his Derby but he wasn’t having it. The owners were brilliant and Martin was the one picking us up, reminding us there’s always another day and that that’s just horses. Steve and I were gutted though, absolutely gutted.”
However, from that point on Shaquille never looked back. His belated seasonal reappearance came at a damp Newmarket on 2,000 Guineas day where he proved a cut above a competitive field in a 6f handicap, with subsequent Listed scorer Washington Heights almost 3l back in second.
From there he rolled on to Newbury and the Carnarvon Stakes (L) where he duly made all to score by 2l under regular rider James Doyle. The manner of Shaquille’s breakthrough black-type victory may have been comfortable, although the same cannot be said for connections’ journey down from Malton.
“The road was closed and we ended up in Oxford and reversing up the back streets,” Camacho recalls.
“It wasn’t fun. We abandoned the car in the car park and Steve got there just in time to take Shaquille off Paige [Harrison, groom] as he was leaving the paddock.”
Thankfully, Shaquille’s trip from pillar to post proved much more straightforward. By this stage he was not only a hugely promising runner but also an increasingly valuable stallion prospect. Naturally the conversation turned to Group 1 targets, while the offers bega to flood in, sme of them more optimistic than others.
"When we were having lunch after the Carnarvon Stakes, Martin asked me if we'd had a Group 1 winner before," she says. "I said that we hadn't, and he replied 'Well neither have I, so we are Group 1 virgins!'. He was so excited.
"We even got a couple of offers for Shaquille while were having lunch.When one of them came in Martin turned to me and asked what I was laughing at.
“I told him someone from abroad had just offered him ten grand for his horse!”
What came next almost defied belief. Shaquille rocked up to the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup where he was sent off the fourth favourite behind Sakheer, Lezoo and the odds-on Little Big Bear.
"I get very nervous anyway so I was anxious before the race, although the pressure was off a bit because nobody could see Little Big Bear being beaten – he was the certainty of the meeting," says Camacho.
When the stalls opened Shaquille reared, causing him to break slowly and lose many lengths on his rivals.
“I was standing on my own towards the back of the paddock and I just thought that was it and that he couldn’t possibly do any good after that,” says Camacho. “Then he started to stay on and I thought he was going to be second, which would’ve been a blinder of a run in the circumstances.”
Approaching the 2f pole Oisin Murphy had Shaquille on the heels of the leaders and as the runners dashed inside the final furlong he was virtually upsides Little Big Bear and with a podium place secured.
Little Big Bear quickened past the pace-setting Swingalong as anticipated, but no sooner had the odds-on favourite worked his way to the front than Shaquille loomed alongside, stuck his head down and began to surge clear. By the time the post came, the margin of victory was a decisive one and a quarter lengths.
“It wasn’t until the closing stages when I thought ‘Bloody hell, he’s going to win!’” says Camacho. “It was a bit of a shock. That’s when you let it all out, all the stress and the emotion of the job.
"Those are the horses that get you up at 4.30 in the morning. Judicial has been an absolute star for us but we’ve never had one like Shaquille before.”
Next stop on the roller-coaster was the Group 1 July Cup for another swashbuckling, if somewhat unorthodox, performance. Shaquille again blew the start but was allowed to stride on by Rossa Ryan, and by halfway the pair had nosed to the front.
When the jockey asked for more effort 2f out it seemed for all money that too much energy had been expended in the early part of the race. However, there were few moments of worry in the closing stages as Shaquille strode on determinedly to score by a length and half.
“Like everybody else, I thought he’d done too much,” says Camacho. “He just kept going though. That was a relief more than anything because there was a bit more expected off him then.”
Shaquille was not the team’s only noteworthy success story this season, as a rejuvenated Significantly claimed the Ayr Gold Cup at the end of his first term with the stable. Those accomplishments have seen Camacho thrust firmly into the racing limelight, although when asked if she’s enjoyed the additional attention she replies in typically unassuming fashion, simply saying “It’s just not me.”
She says the giddy highs provided by Shaquille haven’t fully sunk in, and that instead the team are still inclined to be their own harshest critics.
And while Shaquille’s departure to stud brings this chapter to a close, the story may not be done just yet. As well as anticipating training some “little Shaqs” in future years, their stable star’s three-parts brother by Cable Bay will be among their 2024 juvenile squad.
“When we go on holiday and have time to think about things I think we’ll reflect that we’ll never have another year like it,” she says. “Although if you speak to Steve, because we haven’t had that many winners or done so well with some of the lesser horses, he feels we haven’t had a good year!
“We’ll not repeat this season though, so if this is a bad year then we’re in trouble!”
