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The ultra-progressive Shaquille provided Julie Camacho with a landmark first Group 1 success as he stayed on best in the closing stages to score in the Commonwealth Cup.
Julie Camacho's runner confirmed himself to be one of the most progressive horses in training this afternoon when taking the step up to Group 1 company in his stride. The Charm Spirit colt landed a Newmarket handicap on his first start as a three-year-old this season and backed that up with a taking victory in the Listed Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury to make it four-from-four over six furlongs.
The pace looked reasonable for much of the contest with Swingalong and Little Big Bear leading the field down the middle of the course. They looked to have it between them with a furlong and a half left to cover but Oisin Murphy had other ideas and produced his mount with a well-timed challenge towards the far side having been held up following a tardy start. The well-backed market leader Little Big Bear (10/11 F) stuck to his task well but found himself one and three-quarter lengths behind Julie Camacho's colt at the line. Similar comments can be applied to Karl Burke's filly Swingalong, who ran a blinder to fill the bronze medal spot at a starting price of 66/1.
It was a first Royal winner of the week for jubilant three-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy following a handful of near misses over the last few days.
He said: "[When we broke from the stalls] I was thinking maybe that was the race over. He behaved in there, I had Craig Witherford to help and just as the starter let the stalls open, he went into the air and took his time coming back to the ground, and it's very hard to do that in a six-furlong race and win.
"I got to the back of Ryan (Moore, on Little Big Bear) quite easily, without having to fully go for him. I had to sustain an effort from quite a long way out, so it really was a tremendous task that he managed to overcome."
Oisin Murphy was taking over from James Doyle, who had ridden Shaquille the last twice but was engaged to ride Noble Style for Godolphin this time around.
He added: "I feel sorry for James Doyle, this would have been his mount today and we are best of friends, so I owe him one. Going to the start and everything was important. James said to trust him (Shaquille), that he would give you the feeling that he might run off, but in fact actually he was very well behaved when I did give him his head.
"He's a very well-bred horse, by Charm Spirit and out of a Galileo mare, and he's quite lightly raced, so it was great to get on him today and thank you very much to the connections."
The success saw Shaquille shoot to the head of the market for Newmarket's July Cup next month with Paddy Power making him a 3/1 chance from 8/1 for further Group 1 sprinting success.
