THE 2000 Guineas winner Kameko will be retired to stand at Tweenhills Stud, home of the Qatar Racing stallions, at the end of the season.
The Andrew Balding-trained three-year-old, the fastest ever winner of the colts’ classic at Newmarket, will have his swansong on the track in the Breeders’ Cup in Keeneland.
Kameko won the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy at Newcastle as a two-year-old and gave weight and a beating to older horses in the Group 2 Joel Stakes on his latest start.
Balding said: “Kameko is without doubt the best horse I’ve trained. He has all the attributes of a top-class miler and is a striking horse to look at. I feel very honoured to have had the opportunity to train a horse of such class.”
Kameko was a first British classic winner for jockey Oisin Murphy, who said: “I felt from the very beginning that this could be a special horse.
“He’s the perfect model – he has size, durability and a great character. To ride, he has super balance, a great turn of foot and a good mind – you can put him anywhere in a race. He’s a machine.”
Sheikh Fahad Al-Thani, chairman of Qatar Racing, said: “My brothers and I are delighted to own another superstar in Kameko, whose record-breaking two and three-year-old campaigns will live long in our memory. We cannot wait to unveil him to breeders.”
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