Camelot could be a late entry for Arc

CAMELOT, the winner of the Investec Derby, could be a late acceptor for Sunday’s €4m Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris as fancied contenders continue to drop by the wayside.

German champion Danedream was ruled out of Europe’s richest race on Tuesday. UK hopes were dashed yesterday when John Gosden’s star, Nathaniel, became the latest absentee because of a blood disorder.

At this stage, Camelot’s trainer, Aidan O’Brien, has only accepted for the Paris race with Nicholas Abbey, who will be ridden by his son, Joseph. But he must be tempted to run Camelot in a bid to redeem his reputation after his defeat in the St Leger at Doncaster last month.

Gosden confirmed that Nathaniel would not compete after the Irish Derby second returned unsatisfactory blood tests when he was found to be running a temperature.

Danedream’s trainer must be cursing his luck. The Arc defending champion is marooned in Cologne because of an outbreak of a rare, infectious blood disorder. All 300 horses trained on the track at Cologne have been banned by the German agriculture department from travelling for three months.

The Cologne directors said: “We regret extremely that Danedream cannot go and defend her title. It is catastrophic for all involved.” The mare was the 7-2 favourite in the antepost Arc market. With all the withdrawals the Japanese horse, Orfevre, has been promoted to favourite at 5-2.

Another late entry could be the French Derby winner Saonois, who is expected to be supplemented today.

Local racing takes place at the Vaal today and Ormond Ferraris’s runner, Captain Haddock, could fully extend the likely favourite, Mythical Palace. Ferraris will be happy that the handicapper has dropped the four-year-old’s merit rating by three points following his recent fourth behind Sabadell, but that was a strong race which included three up-and-coming three-year-olds.

Mythical Palace has done his owners proud. The Australian import boasts five wins and four placings from his 12 starts. The five-year-old seems equally at home on sand and turf.

Despite carrying 60kg, Weiho Marwing’s runner, Uncle Tommy, cannot be lightly dismissed. The five-year-old should be cherryripe. Still, as a R2.4m yearling, he has hardly been a bargain buy.

Piere Strydom was seen at his best on Lockheed Jetstar on Tuesday, and will be looking forward to partnering Agadez for trainer Tyrone Zackey in the third race. This son of Kahal flew home to finish third on his debut at Greyville on July day.

The worry for Zackey is that Mike de Kock has chosen this race to introduce Alexandra Palace, a R2.5m son of Jet Master. Another well-bred newcomer is the Silvano colt Gothic, who cost R700,000.

Another son of Silvano, Turnstone, makes plenty of appeal in the final leg of the Pick Six, although he does face a tough rival in Last Battle.