Camelot bids to land Triple Crown at St Leger

Camelot’s greatness as a racehorse is not in doubt but on Saturday he can achieve legendary status by winning the English St Leger and become the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 42 years. Despite his achievement in winning the English 2000 Guineas (mile) and the Epsom Derby (1 1/2 miles) he has had to play second fiddle to the remarkable unbeaten Frankel in terms of racing headlines. However, landing the world’s oldest classic on Saturday, becoming the 16th horse to pull off the Triple Crown but first since Nijinsky in 1970, would justifiably earn the Irish horse as great a profile as Frankel, who sadly will never pit himself against his year younger rival. Frankel is due to run his 14th and last race at Ascot on Oct.20 in the mile and a quarter Champion Stakes which is an unlikely target for Camelot even if he is successful on Saturday. Camelot’s record breaking trainer Aidan O’Brien has had a pretty nerve-wracking week in just getting the horse to the race fit and has even called upon Lester Piggott for advice as the English riding legend was aboard Nijinsky for the late Dr Vincent O’Brien — no relation to Aidan — in 1970. “Lester was reminding us that the Leger is nearly two miles and that made me think,” said 42-year-old O’Brien, who also saddles the classy Imperial Monarch, who won the Group One Grand Prix de Paris in July, and likely pacemaker Chamonix. “We’re asking a Guineas winner to do this — he nearly has to be a (Ascot) Gold Cup horse.”