The prospect of Lady Of Camelot taking on the mares in the Coolmore Classic holds no fears for Adrian Bott, who is content that a seasoning campaign in the spring has laid the ideal groundwork for the task.
While the filly hasn’t recorded a win in eight starts since her Golden Slipper triumph 12 months ago, she has held her own in top company, placing against the older sprinters in the Moir Stakes (1000m) in September and finishing on the heels of the placegetters in The Everest (1200m).
Those performances have convinced Bott that Lady Of Camelot is a genuine chance to become the first three-year-old to win the Coolmore Classic (1500m) since Typhoon Tracy in 2009.
“She has taken on the older horses before, open company, weight-for-age so I don’t mind her taking on the open mares,” Bott said.
“She’s right on track. She ran great the other day and she has come on well.
“It looks a nice race for her.”
Lady Of Camelot ($7) will be one of three fillies in Saturday’s Group 1 field, along with $2.20 favourite Lady Shenandoah, who narrowly edged her out in the Surround Stakes (1400m) last start, and Manaal ($23).
Saturday will be the Tulloch Lodge representative’s first test beyond 1400m and her first time back at Rosehill since Slipper day last year as she bids to maintain her perfect record at the venue.
“She’s won the Golden Slipper and Widden (Stakes) there, so she’s had a bit of experience and enjoys the track,” Bott said.
“It was a really good effort (in the Surround Stakes). I thought she ran out the 1400 metres strongly, recovered well and showed the necessary improvement off her first-up run.”
With Lazzura scratched to run in the Phar Lap Stakes (1500m), Lady Of Camelot will jump from barrier 13 of 14 as she bids to become just the second Golden Slipper winner since Bounding Away (1987) to add her name to the Coolmore Classic honour roll.
