King Of Leogrance (5 g Camelot - Amourette by Halling) handed the Danny O’Brien stable a poignant winner on Monday when he demolished his rivals to win the Adelaide Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) at Morphettville.
King Of Leogrance (5 g Camelot - Amourette by Halling) handed the Danny O'Brien stable a poignant winner on Monday when he demolished his rivals to win the Adelaide Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) at Morphettville.
The O'Brien stable had been hit with tragedy after a track rider was hit by a car outside the trainers Barwon Heads property on Monday morning and in the post-race interviews all thoughts turned to the rider in his early 30s, who died at the scene.
"It's been a very tough day for the whole stable," said O'Brien's stable foreman Ben Gleeson.
"I'm very happy for Nick (Williams) and the Williams family but we're thinking of everybody at home at Flemington and Barwon Heads – it's been devastating.
"But the team have been amazing to turn up here today and Ballarat, it's full credit to them.
"We're really hurting but we appreciate everybody's support today."
The result never looked in doubt with the son of Camelot (Montjeu) always travelling best of the runners and was eventually able to pull clear to beat Good Idea (So You Think) by just over two lengths.
Co-owner Nick Williams said that Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) could now be on the agenda for the five-year-old gelding and the longer term plan would be a crack at the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) in November, which he could try and gain entry into by tackling the Andrew Ramsden Stakes (Listed, 2800m) at Flemington in May – which offers automatically qualifies the winner for the Flemington showpiece.
"We'll get him home and see what to do next, it's only his third run in this campaign," Williams said.
"We might look at going to Sydney in a month's time, we'll see. He certainly looks like a horse we might have a bit of fun with."
The French-bred gelding is one of two winners out of Listed-placed Halling (Diesis) mare Amourette and is from the wider family of Grade 3 winner Royal Copenhagen (Inchinor), Group 2 winner Al Maheb (Riverman) and Listed winner Castiya (Bluebird).
The gelding, who was purchased by Charlie Gordon-Watson for €200,000 as a yearling at the Arqana August Yearling Sale, is one of 26 stakes winners for former Coolmore shuttler Camelot (Montjeu) whose progeny is headed by three elite level winners; Latrobe, Athena and Wonderment.
Camelot, who shuttled to Jerrys Plains for one season in 2014, is standing at Coolmore's base in Ireland for a fee of €40,000.
