Leading British trainer Andrew Balding is over the moon with his leading 2000 Guineas hope Kameko and believes he is a lot like the late Roaring Lion, which truly is one of the biggest compliments a horse can get.
The three year old broke through in to the big time last year when signing off his season with a win in the Group One Vertem Futurity Stakes which was held at Newcastle on the all weather.
From then on his big target for the following season was the Newmarket Classic and with the work he has shown under Oisin Murphy at home has really got Andrew Balding dreaming of another big black type success.
(Credit At The Races) The Kingsclere handler said: “I’m really pleased with him. Obviously he had a quiet period through the winter months and we got him back into faster work around Cheltenham time when lockdown happened.
“At the time we were still hoping the Guineas might be on the original date, so we had a period where we were cranking up the intensity of the work and then obviously when we realised that wasn’t the case, he was let down a little bit.”
Superb performance – Kameko wins the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy under champion jockey @oismurphy for @AndrewBalding2 at @NewcastleRaces pic.twitter.com/ypO69a9XXT
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 1, 2019
“He had a gallop at Kempton last week and I couldn’t be happier with him at the moment. Oisin rode him in that and couldn’t have been happier with the way he went. He looks magnificent, he’s a lovely horse to have anything to do with and we’re all very excited,” said Balding ahead of the 6th June Group One.
“He was always a big-framed horse, he’s not the flashiest of horses in his routine exercise, but he’s always been the type that when you ask him a little bit more, he has improved for it. Kitten’s Joy seemed to thrive on racing – every time he had a run he got better and better and I think this horse is very similar.
“With the racecourse gallop he had the other day, I think we have got him about as ready as we can for this first start of the season. But only time will tell – when the adrenaline is pumping on raceday horses behave differently. On the work he is showing us at home he is as ready as he can be.
“It’s the same for everyone, if you were the only person who couldn’t have raced in this period then obviously you would be at a disadvantage, but everyone is in the same boat.”