2000 Guineas focus: Runner profile of Andrew Balding trained Kameko

Kameko

• Trainer: Andrew Balding
• Owner: Qatar Racing
• Jockey: Oisin Murphy
• Sky Bet 2000 Guineas odds: 10/1

Pedigree

Bought by David Redvers at the same Keeneland September yearling sale as Roaring Lion (for around half the price at $90,000) two years earlier, Kameko is a son of Kitten's Joy, the same sire as Qatar Racing's John Gosden-trained champion three-year-old from 2018.

He is the fifth foal of dam Sweeter Still, a high-class performer in her own right in the United States, winning on turf from an extended 6f to a mile, including at Grade Three level.

Sweeter Still, by sensational miler Rock Of Gibraltar (won 2002 2000 Guineas and Irish version, as well as the St James's Palace), is a half-sister to Kingsbarns, who won over a mile at Group One level as a juvenile, and seven furlong Group Three (Irish 1,000 Guineas Trial) scorer Belle Artiste.

Form

Kameko's two-year-old profile is one of steady progression, winning his maiden first time out before highly creditable performances in Group Three, Group Two and then Group One company on his final start.

The seven furlong maiden he won a shade cosily first time out at Sandown produced just one other subsequent winner (runner-up It's Good To Laugh). There were no future winners to come from his next racecourse appearance (barring himself, of course), but that doesn't tell the whole story by any stretch.

Beaten a nose by odds-on favourite Positive when stepped up in class for the Solario Stakes back over the same Sandown course and distance, he arguably shaped like the best horse having initially run green when asked for his effort before ultimately pushing the market leader all the way to the line in a desperate finish.

The Clive Cox-trained Positive, who had finished five-lengths second to Pinatubo at Glorious Goodwood, went on to be a well-held sixth on unsuitable ground in the Group One Darley Dewhurst Stakes, while Solario third, Al Suhail, subsequently went down narrowly to Saeed bin Suroor's Military March (favourite for the Investec Derby with several firms) in the Autumn Stakes at Newmarket.

Kameko was then beaten a neck by Royal Dornoch in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket on his third racecourse appearance and, once again, there were plenty of onlookers including his trainer (see below) who felt he could, and possibly should, have emerged on top.

The winner didn't race again while the third, fourth and fifth failed to register a win between them subsequently.

Royal Lodge fourth, Year Of The Tiger, had two starts after Newmarket including when one of five Aidan O'Brien representatives well beaten off by Kameko in the rescheduled Vertem Futurity Trophy on Newcastle's Tapeta surface on November 1.

He finished third, fractionally ahead of well-regarded stable companion Mogul, who had won the Group Two Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown en route to the north east of England, and Ralph Beckett's wildly impressive Newmarket novice stakes debut winner Kinross, who took fifth.

Newcastle runner-up Innisfree, second to Year Of The Tiger in a Naas maiden on debut in July, had previously won a Galway maiden and the Curragh's Group Two Beresford Stakes, both by a neck from the same horse - Dermot Weld's Shekhem.

Key quotes

Trainer Andrew Balding - January 30, 2020: "As long as he stays healthy the 2000 Guineas will be his first main objective. It is quite possible he will have a run beforehand as he improved with racing last season. The Burradon Stakes at Newcastle is a Listed race and he would have to carry a penalty, but he is a course and distance winner. He wouldn't have to carry a penalty in the Craven Stakes, so we might end up looking at that if everything falls right and we decide to have a run. I'm not sure just how far he will stay, as there are mixed messages in the pedigree. Without a shadow of a doubt he will stay a mile and a quarter, but whether he stays a mile and a half there is a big question mark."

Owner's representative David Redvers - May 4, 2020: "He is all set for the Guineas and hopefully following in Roaring Lion’s footsteps. He’s our most exciting prospect by some way."

Jockey Oisin Murphy - May 8, 2020: "He’s very Kitten’s Joy in that he carries quite a lot of weight all the time and he takes his gallops very well. I only got to sit on him twice this year before lockdown and I was pleased with him, he’s got very strong. He’s got a super temperament, he’s very relaxed, so he might not sparkle in his work on a day-to-day basis, but when he gets to the track or he gets on grass he’s a different horse. I’m really excited about him, please God he stays in one piece as I think he can have a big year. Trip-wise, I’d be very confident he will stay a mile and a quarter, whether he’ll truly stay a mile and a half I don’t know, he does have an awful lot of pace.

Trainer Andrew Balding following Vertem Futurity Trophy victory - November 1, 2019: "I hate criticising jockeys, but I think if Oisin had ridden the Royal Lodge again he would have won that and we'd have come here expecting him to win. I was very relieved when they decided to run it here, rather than wait until later in the year on the grass. I think it was a proper horse race today and he is a very good horse."

Simon Holt - View from the commentary box

Kameko was one of the most appealing two-year-olds I saw on a racecourse last season when walking round the parade ring before the seven-furlong Solario Stakes at Sandown in late August.

The Andrew Balding-trained son of Kitten’s Joy displayed a powerful, well-proportioned physique and, stepping up in class after a maiden victory on the same course, he was only beaten by inexperience going under by a nose to the smart Positive who had the benefit of two previous outings. Despite looking green under pressure, he galloped strongly all the way to the line suggesting that, if the race been run over a mile, he would probably have won.

It’s worth noting that the Solario has become a very strong race, producing the likes of Kingman, Masar and Too Darn Hot in recent years.

Not surprisingly, Kameko was pushed up in trip for the Royal Lodge Stakes over a mile at Newmarket at the end of September but, again, a lack of race-craft was still evident as he was much too keen in the hands of Oisin Murphy, striking the front over two furlongs out before being hijacked by the 16-1 outsider Royal Dornoch. Hitherto, the winner had not looked one of Aidan O’Brien’s brightest lights.

After the Solario run, I was disappointed to see Kameko beaten again even though he gave the clear impression that he was capable of further improvement.

And so it proved on the all-weather at Newcastle just over a month later when, in the re-staged Vertem Futurity Trophy, he ran a much more mature race, switching off much better than at Newmarket and producing an impressive performance to slam the O’Brien trio Innisfree, Year Of The Tiger (previously fourth to Pinatubo in the Dewhurst) and Mogul by upwards of three lengths in a fast time.

The victory created a piece of perfect symmetry in Kameko’s pedigree as his dam Sweeter Still, who proved best as a three-year-old in the States when winning three times at a mile, is a half-sister to the injury-prone Kingsbarns who won the same race, then known as the Racing Post Trophy, at Doncaster in 2012.

There was no doubting that Kameko looked a Guineas contender that day. He saw out what is a stiff mile in dominant fashion and, bearing in mind his obvious scope, it is not difficult to imagine him being an even better horse in his second season.

He’s a horse I really like but, realistically, there are a couple of concerns. A return to Newmarket will be a test of his racing temperament. Some horses never relax in the wide-open spaces of the Rowley Mile, and it will be imperative that he races with the same control as he did at Newcastle.

Hopefully it won’t be a problem but, like all his rivals who are forced to run in the Classic this year without a trial, he is likely to be fresh enough first time out.

And, secondly, it is justifiable to question whether his form is good enough given a line of form through Year Of The Tiger, and the fact that Positive was twice beaten a long way by the Guineas favourite Pinatubo last season.

Much may depend how the latter has trained on but, at around 12-1, Kameko still looks tempting.

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