Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CAUGHT ON KAM
Balding says Classic contender is up there with best he’s trained
ANDREW BALDING is hopeful QIPCO 2,000 Guineas fancy Kameko will prove the best he has trained in years.
A 14-1 shot for the first Classic of the delayed Flat season on June 6, the three-year-old has already bagged a Group One – and connections are eyeing another.
The 2019 Vertem Futurity Trophy winner has hot favourite Pinatubo to worry about at Newmarket, but connections are quietly confident a recent spin around Kempton has put him spot on for the much-awaited clash.
“I hope and think Kameko is the best we have had here for a good long while,” Balding said.
“I think it really helped with the racecourse gallop last week and he has done three or four pieces of serious work since mid-march, albeit at staggered times.
“Only the race will tell us the answers but I think his preparation is as good as we could have had it.”
Kameko rattled home by three-and-a-half lengths under Oisin Murphy to scoop Britain’s first race at the top level on an artificial surface in November.
Normally, he would almost certainly have had a prep run but coronavirus intervened so trainers like Balding have so far had to keep their stars under lock and key.
But Kameko, by the same sire as ill-fated four-time Group One winner Roaring Lion, has had the luxury of an away day.
Balding said his work went up a gear around the time of the Cheltenham Festival and he will bid to become the third consecutive Vertem Futurity hero to follow up on the Rowley Mile.
“I couldn’t be happier with him at the moment,” Balding said. “He looks magnificent and we are all very excited.”