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Qatar Racing Buys Into Nashville Derby Hopeful Cameo Performance
Sheikh Fahad Al Thani recently bought into the 3-year-old Cameo Performance, who will carry his Qatar Racing’s colors in Kentucky Downs’ $3.1-million Nashville Derby (G3) on Aug. 31, said Fergus Galvin, who with Marc Detampel remain part-owners in the colt.
“We’re excited to have him aboard,” said Galvin, who also serves as Sheikh Fahad’s American racing manager. “Obviously we have a good relationship as it is. He just loves the action down there.”
Cameo Performance earned a fees-paid spot in the 1 5/16-mile Nashville Derby by winning Ellis Park’s Kentucky Downs Preview Nashville Derby on Aug. 3.
Kentucky Downs’ all-turf meet runs Aug. 29, 31 and Sept. 1, 5, 7, 8 and 11.
As a registered Kentucky-bred, the Brendan Walsh-trained Cameo Performance runs for the Nashville Derby’s entire $3.1 million (non-Kentucky-breds still compete for a base purse of $1.9 million). However, the son of the Mill Ridge Farm stallion Oscar Performance made his only start at 2 in Ireland, finishing a close second over Dundalk’s synthetic surface on Nov. 1. Subsequently sent back to the U.S., Cameo Performance won his first domestic start and turf debut on April 14 at Keeneland. After a fifth as the favorite in Churchill Downs’ Audubon (L), Cameo Performance came into the Ellis Park prep off a good second in the Marine (G3) over Woodbine’s all-weather track.
Galvin said they believe starting young horses off in Ireland provides a good foundation with less stress. The experience also means Cameo Performance has faced course undulation in training.
“We brought him over late last year, just to target some of the nice 3-year-old races,” Galvin said. “We’ve always had our eye on the Kentucky Downs race throughout the year. Obviously when he won at Ellis, that punched his ticket.”
Outright and in various partnerships, Qatar Racing, Galvin and his partners’ Hunter Valley Farm have had notable success at Kentucky Downs. Qatar Racing captured the Franklin-Simpson (G3) in 2020 (Guildsman) and 2021 (The Lir Jet) and Hunter Valley Farm won the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon (L) in 2021 with Family Way, all trained by Walsh. They hope to add to their Kentucky Downs’ stakes resume at the upcoming meet.
First World War, owned by Qatar Racing and Hunter Valley Farm, scratched out of both the postponed Saratoga Derby (G1) and Colonial Downs’ Secretariat (G2) to await the $1.5 million Global Tote Gun Runner on Sept. 8. First World War captured his racing debut last year at Kentucky Downs.
In the Penn Mile (G3), First World War handed eventual Belmont Derby (G1) and Secretariat winner Trikari his only defeat in five stakes appearances.
“He’s been a great servant for us this year,” Galvin said. “He won the Penn Mile for us with Frankie (Dettori) aboard, won a Grade 3 down at Gulfstream earlier in the year. He’s up there with the best 3-year-old turf colts in that mile division. We’ve had this race targeted for quite a while for him. We bypassed a couple of races for him just to keep him fresh for this. We’re very hopeful about him.”
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The 5-year-old Witty, owned by Qatar Racing, Detample and breeder/trainer Elizabeth Merryman, is being pointed for the Ainsworth Turf Sprint.
The Pennsylvania-born Witty is out of the same mare (Zeezee Zoomzoom) as Qatar Racing and partners' sensational turf sprinter Caravel, a $1.98 million earner who beat males in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
“He’s going off a good second place at Colonial Downs,” Galvin said of Witty. “We really think the track will suit him. He’s a Pennsylvania-bred, but he still gets to run for $1 million.”
French-bred Evade has arrived from England for the Franklin-Simpson for 3-year-old sprinters, Kentucky Downs’ first Grade 1 stakes. Owned by Qatar Racing in partnership with Resolute Racing, the colt now is with trainer Mike Maker’s Turfway Park division.
“He ran at Royal Ascot, finished maybe mid-pack,” Galvin said, adding of Resolute Racing, “They were as anxious as well as us to come over and give this race a try.”
Qatar Racing is targeting the $1-million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on Sept. 8 for West Beach, who has a second and good fourth in two starts.
“He’s a maiden, but he’s a pretty nice horse that Brendan really likes,” Galvin said. “I won it a couple of years ago with (Irish-based) Joseph O’Brien with a maiden called Reckoning Force. So we’re not afraid to try with a maiden, as long as it’s a good maiden.”
While Qatar Racing’s Waves of Mischief won Ellis Park’s Pucker Up (G3) to earn a fees-paid berth in the $1.6-million Dueling Grounds Oaks, no decision has been made on running. Galvin said the stakes remains possible but they have concerns if Waves of Mischief will handle the 1 5/16-mile distance.
Galvin said starting in late spring, whenever one of Sheikh Fahad’s U.S. horses wins on grass, “Kentucky Downs is always in the back of his mind.
"He’s been going down the last couple of years, loves the atmosphere, and obviously loves the prize money,” he said. "Even a horse in Europe, he’s always running a horse by me if it might suit. Yeah, it’s always on his mind.”
Galvin’s Hunter Valley Farm partners are fellow Irishmen Adrian Regan, John Wade, and Tony Hegarty. Located in Versailles, Ky., Hunter Valley’s sales operation signed on as a Kentucky Downs sponsor, with the race meet a high-profile lead-in to the world-famous Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
“We had to give a little back,” Galvin joked in a text.
