UNUSUAL INCIDENT TAKES LADY OF CAMELOT OUT OF THE DOOMBEN 10 000

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Trainers can always make a pre-emptive list of things that can go wrong with their horses … but that does not offer any guarantee against something coming up that is not on the list.

Lady Of Camelot’s withdrawal from the Doomben 10 000 on Saturday is a case in point.

Chances are you haven’t seen this one before.

A release by Queensland Stewards states: ‘Co-trainer A Bott has advised that Lady Of Camelot sustained wounds to the near-foreleg, caused by a stingray during a beach swim this morning. The mare was treated by the stable veterinarian. Further updates to be provided.’

Lady Of Camelot had only just resumed in the Victory Stakes on May 2 (where she finished in fifth place, 2.80 lengths behind Splash Back) where she had her first run after close to fourteen months away from race action.

That extended break was largely by design … with a two-part plan.

The Waterhouse / Bott training partnership firstly electing to allow the daughter of Written Tycoon more time to recover from her demanding two-year-old and three-year-old campaigns and then planned her return with a visit to Royal Ascot mapped out as the main goal for the now four-year-old.

The fifth place finish in the Victory Stakes was a pass mark, given the length of time Lady Of Camelot had been out of racing … but only a pass mark, and the Doomben 10 000 was due to be an important race for her in terms of allowing her connections to assess her situation at this time and how that would impact on her Ascot aspirations.

The stingray incident and Lady Of Camelot’s subsequent scratching from the Doomben 10 000 has moved the immediate goalposts and it remains to be seen whether the Ascot option can still be in play.

Lady Of Camelot might only be a two-time winner from fourteen starts, but she did win the 2024 $5 million Golden Slipper and the Group 3 Widden Stakes … as well as finishing second in all of the Group 1 Surround Stakes … the Lightfinger, the $2 million Blue Diamond and the $1 million Percy Sykes – all Group 2 races … and the $3 million Sunlight.

She also finished third in Moir Stakes, the $2 million Coolmore Stud Stakes and the $1 million Coolmore.

In other words, Lady Of Camelot has been mixing it with the best for most of her career during which time she has pulled in an impressive $5 950 500 in prize-money.
Hopefully there will be more to come but, for now, her forward momentum has hit an unfortunate speedbump.

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