Spring is always a time of excitement for leading breeder John Camilleri as he awaits the next drop of foals from his star broodmare band, but this season the anticapion extends to the track as an owner for the first time in many years.
Camilleri forked out $3.9 million for Surround Stakes winner Sunshine In Paris at Magic Millions in May after her five starts had produced three wins and a group 1. Her return in the Sheraco Stakes is the start of a path to the Golden Eagle. “All I know is what we have seen in her replays and it shows she is very high-class mare,” Camilleri said. “I think Annabel [Neasham] was very clever by putting her away, and the form from that Surround just kept getting better.“She has come up really well, Annabel tells me; her work is good.”
“I had retired her earlier in the year, but a lot of people around me like James Harron and Peter O’Brien told me I was mad,” Camilleri said.