Shaquille disappointment ‘in the mystery column’

The Shaquille team remained puzzled on Sunday by their stable star’s uncharacteristic effort in the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock.

The Julie Camacho-trained colt has been superb all season, with a four-race winning streak including two Group One titles, in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and the July Cup at Newmarket.

He missed the break on the latter two occasions and was schooled through the stalls at home to remedy the issue, with the session seeming to be a success and confidence high as he headed to Haydock as the 11-10 favourite.

Shaquille was taken to post early by James Doyle, who then had to dismount before the market leader entered the stalls.

This time he did not miss the break and led in the early stages, but as the race unfolded he faded abruptly two furlongs from home before he was eased up by Doyle, coming home last of the 16 starters.

He pulled up sound, with no obvious issues, leaving connections still looking for the cause of an inexplicably heavy defeat.

“Nothing has come to light immediately, he was fine post-race – he was sound and his heart rate was normal,” said Camacho’s assistant and husband, Steve Brown.

“He seems bright and breezy this morning, he’s his normal self, he’s pretty fresh and well if anything.

“It’s all a bit of a puzzle at this moment in time, we’ll take some more tests this week and see if we can find what was amiss.

“He obviously wasn’t himself, he didn’t run any sort of a race and James did the right thing and looked after him thankfully.”

“I’m sure something will come to the surface at some point, but at the minute it’s in the mystery column, I’m afraid.”