Chance for Camelot to make his own piece of history

“I’m afraid he will step on a stone,” whispers the trainer as the photographers are ushered quietly forward at the world-famous Ballydoyle stables that are the heartbeat of Irish racing, indeed all sport in the Emerald Isle. “I’ve gone very paranoid.”

Though the quietly-spoken 42-year-old has become the most dominant trainer in the British Isles since his unrelated namesake Vincent was the master of Ballydoyle with iconic horses like Nijinsky, O’Brien has good reason to be concerned.

If Camelot prevails in today’s Ladbrokes St Leger, he will become the first horse to win racing’s fabled Triple Crown since mercurial Lester Piggott achieved the feat in 1970 aboard the aforementioned Nijinsky.

The fact that no horse has been in a position to land the Triple Crown – the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and St Leger – for 42 years explains O’Brien’s caution. There are also the daily reminders including an imposing, life-size statue of Nijinsky standing proudly at the entrance to Ballydoyle. Yes, there is room for a second horse to be placed alongside this sculpture.

Then there is the personal glory, though the trainer is too modest to mention that he will win all five English Classics if Camelot, the odds-on favourite, conquers Town Moor today in front of a record crowd that will top 30,000 racegoers.

And then there is the fact that this potentially iconic horse, who came to prominence last October when winning Doncaster’s Racing Post Trophy with emphatic ease, will be ridden by the trainer’s teenage son Joseph who has come of age since being partnered with the champion.

As O’Brien’s wife Annemarie hastily removes a stray stone from the vicinity of the wood-chipped gallop that is lined by magnificent, centuries-old beech and oak trees, the trainer provides a rare insight into the philosophy that has served him so well.

“Accidents don’t happen. They are always caused,” he says softly.

“There is a long list of circumstances that cause accidents.

“It’s a very fickle time. You try to cover everything. We don’t take anything for granted.”

Under rain-laden skies deep in County Tipperary, there’s nothing remarkable – from the outside – about Ballydoyle. It is just another farm. There are no signs; the only possible clue is the security post.

Camelot, named by co-owner Sue Magnier – who is steeped in racing and breeding as daughter of the legendary Vincent O’Brien – and her husband John, is the second of 44 horses to emerge from the stables.

He is being ridden by his Japanese work rider Kaname Tsuge. He gently canters up a gradual incline, his low-moving action testament to his class, before slowing to a trot and then walking pace as horse and rider return to O’Brien’s vantage point. The tension is palpable.

“Happy Kaname?” O’Brien asks. “Happy,” comes the succinct reply. It is a routine repeated for each horse and rider, the trainer not even deviating from the script for his son.

The second piece of work up the gallop is slightly more intense. “All we want is Kaname to say he’s okay,” says O’Brien whose work rider has been previously entrusted with such titans as Galileo, the 2001 Derby winner who went on to sire Sir Henry Cecil’s wonderhorse Frankel.

“Kaname, are you happy?” asks the trainer who appears slightly vulnerable in lightly-rimmed spectacles than the dark glasses that he always wears on the racecourse.

The response is an instant one.

“Happy.”

It is the cue for the trainer, an intensely private and, at times, shy individual to reveal Camelot’s special qualities and the level of public expectation.

Asked whether the Triple Crown pressure was comparable to the mighty Istabraq’s three successive Champion Hurdle victories between 1998 and 2000, O’Brien told the Yorkshire Post: “Good question. It was a good appointment for what was to come along ... the sleepless nights are the same.”

When an un-named yearling prepared to enter the sales ring, O’Brien recalls being told by the power-brokers at Ballydoyle and nearby Coolmore stud to walk briskly past the stable – they did not want to reveal their hand before making a purchase that would transform their lives and breeding operation.

Likewise when Camelot beat Daddy Long Legs, a very capable horse, by 25 lengths in a workout prior to the Racing Post Trophy. O’Brien prefaces each remark with “I shouldn’t be telling you this” – but that is his manner. His loyalty to Camelot’s owners – the Magnier, Smith and Tabor families – is absolute.

“We hadn’t won the Derby for 10 years until Camelot. It is only when you don’t win that you find out how hard it is to win,” explained the handler who revealed that the name Camelot was reserved for 10 years until a horse with mythical-like qualities was discovered.

“The reality is that this is our first Triple Crown horse. Before, it was make a stallion and get him off to stud quick. Now it is make a stallion and expose him. Push out the boat. People want to see horses, you know what I mean? We want him to stay around.”

The one doubt in O’Brien’s mind is the trip – Camelot has never raced beyond a mile and a half and will be galloping into the unknown when he passes Doncaster’s two-furlong pole shortly before 3.45pm. He knows John Gosden is deploying the pacemaker, Dartford, in a bid to expose the favourite’s limitations and maximise the chances of the game, but unspectacular Thought Worthy and Michelangelo.

“You have to have speed, stamina and courage to win a 
St Leger, and the race will expose the last two,” says O’Brien who has previously won the Doncaster Classic with Milan (2001); Brian Boru (2003) and Scorpion (2004).

“You do your best. Sometimes your best is good enough. Sometimes not. If not, you move on. But I know the horse is very unique and very important.”

There is a pause for O’Brien to clarify a couple of remarks and say no decision on the horse’s future will be taken until after today’s race. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s richest and most prestigious race, is a tantalising option. And then there is one final observation about Camelot: “We don’t know what his weaknesses are yet.”

It is a statement made even more significant by the fact that Aidan O’Brien is not renowned for such hyperbole – even more so as both he, and Camelot, approach horse racing’s career-defining moment of truth.