'We expect them to improve throughout the year' - excitement for Kameko's first two-year-olds at Kingsclere

It may be early days for Kameko's first crop of juveniles, but there is no hiding the excitement from the Kingsclere and Qatar Racing teams about the sons and daughters of their record-breaking 2,000 Guineas winner.

Andrew Balding saddled Kameko to win twice as a juvenile, notably the Group 1 Futurity Stakes at Newcastle, while he was beaten a nose and a neck on his other two starts in his initial campaign, and his two-year-olds by the former Kingsclere stable star took everything in their stride in the indoor pen and on the gallops while put through their paces for the media earlier this week.

Among them are Ghost Run, a half-sister to Listed City Walls and Marygate Fillies' Stakes winner Nymphadora, a colt out of stakes-placed Al Kazeem mare Golden Spell, and Lady Kameko, a half-sister to Qatar Racing's 2023 Queen's Vase runner-up Saint George. 

David Redvers and Andrew Balding overlook the Kameko two-year-olds at Kingsclere

Balding said: "We’re very fortunate to have nine of Kameko’s first crop at Kingsclere and they’ve all settled in very well. The Kamekos we’ve got in at the moment have his stamp, they’re all straightforward and seem to relish their work, which he did too, and they’re making really pleasing progress. 

"A couple of them are showing a bit more speed than he did at the same stage. Hopefully they can continue as he did and improve from July onwards.

"There’s a Kameko out of Terrify, named Berkshire Kameo, who looks ready for a six-furlong start, probably towards the end of May. There’s also one out of Ship Of Dreams who is owned by Qatar Racing and will probably be ready for a run in a fortnight’s time, but they’re the sort of horses we expect to improve throughout the year."

David Redvers, Qatar Racing manager and owner of Tweenhills Stud, where Kameko stands, also expressed enthusiasm about the chestnut colt out of Ship Of Dreams, describing him as their "great white hope".

The Kameko colt out of Golden Spell is put through his paces

Balding is, of course, especially well placed to compare Kameko's progeny with their sire, and recalled: "Kameko came to us as a little bit of a slow burner through the spring as a two-year-old, he didn’t really start fast work until the June, so he wasn’t a naturally early two-year-old. Obviously he ended up winning the Futurity and was a little unlucky in the Solario and Royal Lodge, so he was a very high-class juvenile." 

The son of Kitten's Joy, an astute $90,000 purchase by Redvers at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, trained on to win the Covid-delayed 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in a race-record time, before finishing fourth on his next three starts including the Derby. Kameko then won the Group 2 Joel Stakes before signing off with a midfield finish in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

Balding added of his stallion prospects: "He’s got every chance of having a really good career because he had such a wonderful attitude to his work and to his racing. He was also a very sound horse and I don’t think we ever had the vet look at him apart from routine scopes and vaccinations. 

"The capacity to sustain a stride length like he did – and that speed – meant he was an elite horse.  Hopefully he’ll turn out to be an elite stallion as well."

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