Jeremy Brummitt keeping his feet on the ground as Book 1 buy makes history

The genesis of the startling victory of Russian Camelot in the South Australian Derby at Morphettville on Saturday came more than two years ago, when the northern hemisphere-bred three-year-old's connections were trumped by another syndicate also attempting to buy the promising German horse Schabau.

The disappointment of being beaten to the punch by the fellow Australian partnership for Schabau, who incidentally is undefeated in three starts at Flemington last year, led to Victoria-based trainer Danny O’Brien and British agent Jeremy Brummitt embarking on an ambitious plan to source European yearlings to race in Australia.

O’Brien's and Brummitt’s raid on the European yearling sales, made with the backing of principal owner John Wheeler, has paid off almost immediately with Russian Camelot, a lightly-raced colt who now rates as one of the most promising middle-distance horses in Australia.

Born on March 29, 2017, and giving away about six months in age to his Derby rivals, Russian Camelot also became the first northern hemisphere-bred three-year-old to win a Classic in the country.

“What he has done is extraordinary and it’s a bit naive to think that you’re going to buy an extraordinary horse every year," Brummitt said. "The age gap is significant and it's unlikely that you could overcome it with every yearling you send down there.

“I think it’s an unusual circumstance and it’s been very cleverly handled, in that Danny didn’t really test that maturity until close to the end of his three-year-old season.

“The horse is going to kick over into a four-year-old in a couple of months and he’s left it as late as possible to try and get him up in distance. It’s not that punishing to go for a mile and a half if you’re in second gear for a mile and a quarter.”

Brummitt bought Russian Camelot from Camas Park Stud for 120,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2018 on behalf of O’Brien’s clients who harboured a desire to bring him to Australia unraced.

The agent takes up the Russian Camelot tale from there.

“Danny had asked me to go and find him a [tried] horse and for a year I was looking around before I found Schabau, but then we were outbid on him.

"When we were outbid on Schabau, I convinced Danny to buy some 'undamaged goods' and so we bought two that year and we bought three last year. I now hope that we might be at the sales this year, too.”

The down-to-earth Brummitt was not laying claim to being a genius when asked about how he selected the son of Camelot.

“I try very hard to avoid the things that agents normally trot out about a good horse, but I thought he was very athletic, very balanced and he clearly had a lot of scope to improve and he came off a farm run by one of the best horsemen in Ireland,” he said.

Camas Park Stud in County Tipperary is owned and run by a legend of the Irish industry in Tim Hyde snr, and his son Tim Hyde jnr. The farm's graduates also include Melbourne Cup hero Rekindling and a slew of Classic winners such as Al Bahathri, Alexandrova, Capri, Fame And Glory, Mastercraftsman and Pour Moi.

Apart from the initial selection process, one key element Brummitt believes has been crucial in the success of Russian Camelot is the fact that he was broken in after being sent to Australia.

“I think that's an interesting point," he said. "I thought it might make more sense to break them in here [in the UK] and use their residual fitness from the sales, but Danny was keen to get them down under as soon as possible and do the whole process there, and it’s obviously worked.

“He’s got three two-year-olds [from Europe] and they are all where you would want them to be at this stage. They could be as slow as a tugboat or they could be another Russian Camelot, but the process has worked very well in terms of acclimatisation and maturation of those horses, so I don’t think we’ll be changing the formula.”

The current two-year-olds in Victoria under O’Brien’s care are by Australia, Sea The Stars and another Camelot.

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Brummitt said: “I'm very lucky to work with such a supportive sponsor as Danny O’Brien and John Wheeler. I appreciate working with two people who let me get on with the job.”

The agent also predicted that the best may be ahead for Russian Camelot, and did not rule out the colt becoming an elite contender over shorter distances.

“I have no doubt that when he matures he will be quick enough at a mile against the opposition in Australia,” he said. “Horses don’t get quicker with age; they get stronger and more mature.

"Mentally, he’s too immature for them to chase him into the bridle and ask him to run as fast as he can, but once he’s got more time under his belt and he’s a more seasoned racer, I think Danny will be able to pull him back to shorter distances and have him travel a bit closer in the run.

“I'm not suggesting there’s anything inherently more valuable about that, but a lot of people think they can only step up in distance as they get older. You have to train the mind as well as the body and if you’ve got the mind right they can often step back.”

‘Derby win very satisfying’

Russian Camelot, the $2.90 favourite, defeated Dalasan by one and three-quarter lengths with Victoria Derby winner Warning another length away in third.

"Obviously we're really excited. He's a horse that we've had a huge opinion of," O'Brien said. "We've had him since he was a yearling and this was a race that we've been aiming him at for the better part of 12 months. He's turned up and delivered.

"It's very satisfying. It's never been done before - a northern hemisphere horse has never won a Derby in Australia. I don't even think one has ever run?

"We were very confident going into today that there were no excuses. He'd had everything we needed to do to get him right."

Russian Camelot firmed dramatically in the betting for this year’s Melbourne Cup after the eye-catching performance, but O’Brien was reluctant to commit the inexperienced colt to following the same path as his older stablemate Vow And Declare, who was victorious on the first Tuesday in November last year.

"He's obviously been a very exciting horse, not just for us but the public as well from the time he had his first start," he said. "We'll see about the Cup. He's still a young horse. We'll enjoy today.

"The owners are a great group of people who have resisted some big offers for the horse and I'm sure they're all thrilled as we are that he's won a Derby. And we'll savour that and certainly we'd be looking forward to the spring."

Russian Camelot has raced five times for three wins and won A$324,225 in prize-money.

His sire Camelot shuttled to Coolmore Australia in 2014 for one season. His unraced dam Lady Babooshka is a Cape Cross three-parts sister to four-time stakes winner Alkaadhem and a half-sister to smart handicapper Raising Sand.

Lady Babooshka, owned by Camas Park Stud and Lynch Bages, has an unraced two-year-old sister to Russian Camelot named Russian Camilla in training with Sylvester Kirk and a filly foal by Zoffany. She is back in foal to Camelot.

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