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| Staff Writer |
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Shaquille will not be participating in the Group One Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot this season. He was not declared to contest the race because his connections were not completely satisfied with his performance.
Shaquille, who has been trained by Julie Camacho, is an outstanding sprinter with Group One victories in both the Commonwealth Cup and July Cup. Despite facing terrible starts on both occasions, he managed to win comfortably.
Although he was expected to win a third Group One on Saturday, Shaquille did not feature in the final field of 15, headed by last year's winner Kinross. Steve Brown, assistant to his wife, revealed that Shaquille had not been completely sound on Thursday morning, which led to the decision not to run, especially given the likely testing ground at Ascot.
“We’re just not 100 per cent happy with him and we’re not going to go if he’s not anything other than 100 percent,” he said. “Given the ground conditions as well, we’d have been going there with a touch of uncertainty.
“It’s not a big problem and he’s always been a 100 per cent sound athlete through his career.”
In 2024, Camacho, Brown, and the owners of Shaquille, namely Martin Hughes, Peter Rawlings, and Michael O'Shaughnessy, will hold discussions about Shaquille's future. During these discussions, all possibilities will be considered.
Brown said, “I think we probably need to take a step back and talk about things. There’s communication going on about his future but we’ve not decided anything yet beyond him not running again this season.
“We’re very blessed he came into our lives. We’ve had Judicial, who’s just left us, and it’s been the most wonderful era with some wonderfully talented horses.”