Debut Russian Camelot Winner Pleases Kiwi Breeder

Debut Russian Camelot Winner Pleases Kiwi Breeder

 In 2017, News

Russian Camelot (IRE) had an interesting debut winner at Hastings in New Zealand on Saturday that is tipped as a staying star of the future.

Kiwi breeder Mark Lupton has plenty of fond memories of his Group I -winning mare Etah James, and he is hoping to create a few more with her son, Makarov, following his convincing debut victory.

The four-year-old son of Russian Camelot has been taken along quietly by trainer Bill Thurlow, having his first trial at Woodville last December before trialling again at Foxton this month, where he placed in both of his 1000m heats.

Those performances gave Lupton plenty of confidence heading into his raceday debut at Hastings, and he was pleased with the way he won over 1400m.

 

 

“He was pretty impressive,” Lupton said. “He is quite exciting, we have waited a while for it, but we always thought it was coming. It was a surprise it was over 1400m first-up, but his trials had been good.

“Bill gave him a couple of trials over the last few weeks and his trial on Tuesday morning was pretty good. The one that beat him (Djibouti) has been placed five times at the races, and they ran the fastest 1000m of the day, so I was starting to get a bit confident.”

Makarov was bred by Lupton, and his wife Cath, along with Terry Reid and Gary Howes, who also bred and raced Etah James, who took them on a great ride with highlight wins in the Group I Sydney Cup (3200m) and Group III Lord Reims Stakes (2600m).

Lupton said Makarov has inherited the family trait of needing time, and that is exactly what they have given him.

“He is by a Derby winner out of our two-mile Sydney Cup winner, he was always going to take a bit of time,” Lupton said. “He is a beautiful, big staying horse, he looks a stayer all over.

“The family just takes time and the ones we have rushed have gone amiss and we have problems with, and the ones that we have waited for have come out good. We won’t push him too hard, we think he has got a pretty big future as a stayer.”

 

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