Monday, 28 October 2019: Epsom Derby winner Camelot is set to have his first Melbourne Cup starter after his Irish son Hunting Horn won the G2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup on October 26.

Trained by Aidan O'Brien and carrying the Coolmore navy blue colours, Hunting Horn made an impact at his first Australian start with a strong staying performance under champion jockey Ryan Moore.

Hunting Horn winning the Moonee Valley Gold Cup

 4YO entire, Hunting Horn (Camelot x Mora Bai by Indian Ridge) beat the Queensland Derby winner Mr Quickie and Downdraft, another Irish-bred son of Camelot making his Australian debut for Aidan's O'Brien's son Joseph O'Brien.

Hunting Horn took his record to three wins and seven placings from 22 starts and is now set to run in the $8 million Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 5, being assured of a start at 20th with 55kg and eligible for a weight penalty.

Hunting Horn  is among 36 Australian winners by Camelot, a son the great staying sire Montjeu, and has a top shelf pedigree as his unraced dam Mora Bai is a half-sister to another Epsom Derby winner and late sire High Chaparral (Sadler's Wells), the G2 winner Black Bear Island (Sadler's Wells) and three other stakeswinners.

Mora Bai is the dam of five winners including the G2 winner David Livingston (Galileo).

Camelot has sired 195 winners from 324 runners to date with Hunting Horn among his 13 individual Group winners headed by the 2018 Irish Derby winner Latrobe, a placegetter in the G1 LKS Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington last spring and also set to start in this year's Melbourne Cup for the Joseph O'Brien team.

Aidan O'Brien had his first Melbourne Cup runner in 2006 and is yet to win the great race with more than dozen starters, going close with a second by  Johannes Vermeer in 2017 and a third with Mahler in 2007.

Hunting Horn has been used as a bunny for stablemates in many of his northern hemisphere starts but he did win the the G3 Hampton Court Stakes and has been placed in the G1 Belmont Derby, G2 Prix Niel, G3 Chester Vase and G3 Sandown Classic Trial.

Camelot added a new Group winner in Ireland on October 27 when the progressive Degraves (Camelot x Daganya, by Danehill) won the G3 Eyrefield Stakes at Leopardstown for Joseph O'Brien.

Camelot was unbeaten as a 2YO including the G1 Racing Post Trophy and went on to complete a hat-trick of G1 wins as a three-year-old.

Camelot wins the 2012 Epsom Derby

UK-based French trainer David Menuisier landed his first Australian win with just his third starter when the Lawman entire Chief Ironside won the G2 Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley.

A recent Australian Bloodstock recruit Chief Ironside (Lawman x  Moment Of Time by Rainbow Quest) bounced back from a luckless Australian debut in the G1 Toorak Handicap at Caulfield and gave Menuisier some consolation for the Cox Plate failure of his stablemate Danceteria.

A multiple G3 placegetter in England, Chief Ironside  has now won three of his 15 starts for earnings of $305,518.

Chief Ironside's sire Lawman, a French Derby winner by Invincible Spirit, has been represented by 397 winners including 31 individual black type winners but few of his progeny have competed in Australia.

His four Australian winners include the multiple Group winner and G1 placed Libran.

Chief Ironside's dam Moment Of Time is a stakes placed half-sister to the G3 winner and g1 placed filly Time Away (Darshaan), the dam of six winners including G2 winner Time On (Sadler's Wells).

Another of Time Away's daughters Time Control (Sadler's Wells) is the dam of G1 winner Cursory Glance (Distorted Humor) while Time On produced G2 winner Mot Juste (Distorted Humor).

Chief Ironside winning the Schweppes Crystal Mile

 

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Camelot - 2012 2,000 Guineas