Julie Camacho is sanguine about the chance that her 27th season with a trainer’s licence will come anywhere close to her 26th. “We won’t be able to follow that, unfortunately,” she said this week, before the start of the new Flat campaign on turf at Doncaster on Saturday. “You probably don’t enjoy it as much as you should do at the time, because you’re always on to the next thing, you’ve got more runners coming up and you’re keeping going on the hamster wheel. But now we’ve had a bit of time to reflect, it was definitely a year we’ll never forget.”
Camacho’s realism is understandable, given the wild swings in fortune that are a standard feature of most trainers’ careers. That said, though, she might conceivably have said much the same 12 months ago, with her season for the ages still in front of her.
Camacho set out in 2023 off the back of a career-high prize money total of £536,000 in 2022. Eight months later, she had more than doubled her own record, and set a new all-time mark for a female trainer in Britain in the process, banking £1.3m thanks mainly to the Group One-winning exploits of the a three-year-old sprinter called Shaquille.
Shaquille chipped in £750,000 – substantially more than Camacho’s 47 winners in 2022 – all by himself, including victories in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June and then the July Cup, the midsummer sprinting championship, a few weeks later. But it was the quirks as much as the blistering speed that made Shaquille one of the most popular performers of the year. He was sent to Newcastle for his seasonal debut on all-weather finals day in early April and refused to enter the stalls – an early hint of the drama that would follow at Ascot a few weeks later.
For Shaquille’s trainer, it was the worst of times and the best of times, and all in the space of around 70 seconds. “Going to Ascot, we were hopeful but that’s all,” Camacho says, “and the vibes from Ballydoyle were that Little Brown Bear [the odds-on favourite for the Commonwealth Cup] was Aidan O’Brien’s banker of the meeting. When you’ve never had a Group One winner and you’re taking on the big boys, especially at Royal Ascot, you always feel like the underdog.”
Shaquille was, in fact, a 9-1 shot, having won both of his starts after going on strike at Newcastle. But he was out to 80-1 in-running on the Betfair exchange within a second or two of the start, as he fell out of the stalls and gave his opponents a five-length head start.
Huntingdon: 2.05 Ensel Du Perche, 2.35 Moonlit Potter, 3.05 Tap N Go Leo, 3.35 Icaque De L’Isle, 4.05 My Friend Sean, 4.35 Samuel Spade.
Exeter: 2.20 Time To Bite, 2.50 Nick The Greek, 3.20 Maximum Effort, 3.50 Classic Maestro, 4.20 Gingerbred, 4.50 The Wolf.
Newcastle: 4.30 Spanish Hustle, 5.00 Lunar Rocks, 5.30 Umberto (nap), 6.00 Kuwaitya, 6.30 Saisons D’Or, 7.00 Water Of Leith (nb), 7.30 Beneficiary, 8.00 Absolute Dream, 8.30 Global Humor.
“I thought: ‘That’s it, Shaq, you’ve blown that, haven’t you?’” Camacho recalls. “You can’t do those sort of things when you’re running in a good handicap, never mind at Group One at Royal Ascot.” But Shaquille could, and did, working his way back into the race under a patient ride by Oisin Murphy before quickening past Little Brown Bear to win with something to spare.
Shaquille was foaled a couple of miles away from Camacho’s yard in Malton, but has now moved south to Newmarket to start a new career as a stallion, standing at an initial fee of £15,000. In the spring of 2027, the trainer will hope that at least a few of his first crop of foals will be ready to start their own racing careers in her yard.
In the meantime, though, the successes of Shaquille and his fellow sprinter Significantly, who landed the Ayr Gold Cup, have ensured that the overall standard of horses at the yard has gone up another notch. “We’ve got quite a few that are rated 80-plus,” Camacho says, “so hopefully a few of the Saturday horses that are what people want. Obviously it would be great to win another Group One, but being realistic it would be wonderful to win some nice handicaps and if anything’s good enough to be Group-class, that’s even better.”
The first “Saturday” horse to go into action is Lattam, a £50,000 recruit from the William Haggas yard who will set off as one of the favourites for the Lincoln. “William says we didn’t buy him, we stole him,” Camacho says. “He’s never run for us and you’re learning about these horses all the time, but we’ve done plenty with him and all the pre-race checks have been good. He just needs a good pace to go at, and a bit of luck.”
Doncaster 1.20 Two Brothers 1.55 Bust A Move 2.30 Balmacara 3.05 Roach Power 3.40 Ensured 4.15 Evocative Spark 4.50 Rwenearlytheredad 5.25 Burj Malinka
Ascot 1.35 Vicenzo (nb) 2.10 Storminhome 2.45 Kado De Joie 3.20 Thelasthighking (nap) 3.55 Redbridge Rambler 4.30 Diego Du Charmil 5.05 Supreme Gift
Chazzesmee can start season with a bang
No horse has ever won the Irish Lincolnshire Handicap and its namesake at Doncaster in the same season but plenty of punters will be backing Fozzy Stack’s Chazzesmee to be the first to double up when the six-year-old goes to post as the likely favourite for the first big handicap of the new Flat season on turf on Saturday.
Chazzesmee was a more comfortable winner at the Curragh at Monday than a one-length margin might suggest, as he was stopped in his run a quarter of a mile out before making rapid progress to hit the front well inside the final furlong.
Even the likely favourite’s trainer is not entirely sure what to expect after just five days off on Saturday. “It’s kind of a shot to nothing,” Stack said on Friday. “He’ll either be there or thereabouts or they’ll be sending out a search party for him. It’s hard to know with the short turnaround.”
But while the possibility of a “bounce” is an obvious concern, Chazzesmee (3.35) has more than one piece of form in a limited career to date that suggests he could improve beyond handicaps this season. He was a close second in one of the strongest one-mile handicaps of the season on Irish Derby weekend last year and anything close to that form could well be enough to secure a historic double.
Doncaster 1.20 The drop to Listed company could be just what Charyn needs after several good runs in a higher grade last season.
Bangor 1.30 Dan Skelton’s yard has maintained its strong form from the Festival and West To The Bridge will appreciate this step back up in trip.
Doncaster 1.50 No form at all in the first two-year-old race of the season, but Dylan Cunha’s string is in fine form so Zminiature is a hopeful pick.
Newbury 2.10 Kartoon And Co finished with plenty still to give at Sandown earlier this month and remains on a very fair mark.
Doncaster 2.25 Thunder Roar should improve for his warm-up on the all-weather 13 days ago and remains lightly-raced for a five-year-old.
Newbury 2.40 The improving Heltenham has an excellent record over this track and trip including a win in this race last year and looks good for a follow-up off a 2lb higher mark.
Doncaster 3.00 This could be more to Orazio’s liking after a mixed season in big-field handicaps last term.
Newbury 3.15 Smiling Getaway has a decent mark for her handicap debut after a good run in a Grade Two last time.
