Classic star who lit up path out of darkness
| Published date | 16 June 2021 |
| Date | 16 June 2021 |
| Publication title | Weekender |
It was the most punishing blow the ever-growing operation had faced. Many would not have begrudged the team had they questioned their involvement in racing following their darkest days.
However, on June 6 last year, their grief turned into great cheer as Kameko scorched the Newmarket turf in the 2,000 Guineas in record-breaking fashion. That great cheer may not have come from the Rowley Mile - it was the first major sporting event to return behind closed doors from the coronavirus pandemic - but they came from sofas across the world, including from David Redvers.
The late Roaring Lion is irreplaceable for Qatar Racing's manager, but they found his heir apparent, who now lives a life of royalty at the operation's Tweenhills Stud.
"It's hard to overstate how our operation revolves around future stallions. In Roaring Lion we found a world champion with all the attributes to be a leading stallion. To have lost him after he covered his first book of mares was brutal," Redvers says.
"It's the sort of cruel blow that can put you off your course quite quickly. To be able to have found the next-best son of Kitten's Joy so soon who won a Group 1 at two and a Classic mile at three was two things even Roaring Lion couldn't do.
"It was a wonderful highlight and gave us all hope that the operation has got a fair few more years left in it."
Qatar Racing are most certainly not going anywhere yet, helped in no small part by Kameko, and they were in their pomp in the summer of 2018. Roaring Lion was racking up a Group 1 four-timer and Lightning Spear added a Sussex Stakes to the honours board.
Four days before Roaring Lion's battling victory in the Irish Champion Stakes, another American-bred son of Kitten's Joy was scouted by the talented eyes of Redvers and Sheikh Fahad and purchased for $90,000 - a meagre sum in today's thoroughbred purchasing arena.
Sent to the esteemed school of Andrew Balding's Kingsclere yard, the newly named Kameko - the Japanese word for a baby turtle - soon showed he possessed the speed his animal namesake lacks.
"Sheikh Fahad and his wife Melissa actually did the bidding and named him too," Redvers recalls. "For me, he was the most exciting son of Kitten's Joy and he...
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