Stingray Injury Ends Royal Ascot Dream For Australian Sprint Star Lady Of Camelot

Australian Group 1 winner Lady Of Camelot has been ruled out of a planned trip to Royal Ascot after a freak stingray injury sustained during a beach outing in Brisbane, with her racing future now hanging in the balance.

The four-year-old, trained by leading duo Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, was preparing for a return in Saturday’s Doomben 10,000 before connections were forced to halt her campaign due to wounds on her near foreleg.

Owned by Go Bloodstock, she had been aimed at a high-profile European summer, with entries in both the King Charles III Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. She had been priced up around 10-1 to 12-1 for those contests.

That ambition has now been shelved indefinitely after she was moved to a specialist veterinary hospital for treatment. In a statement released via Instagram, Go Bloodstock confirmed all immediate plans had been abandoned while she receives care.

“The decision has been made to end her Brisbane Winter Carnival and international campaigns effective immediately,” the statement said. “A decision regarding her future will be made in due course. Given her elite pedigree and Group 1 success, she remains a highly valuable prospect.”

Lady Of Camelot burst onto the scene with a famous win in the Golden Slipper Stakes and has remained a consistent force in top-level sprinting, regularly competing at Group 1 level without adding another major victory since.

What was shaping up as an ambitious Royal Ascot raid has now turned into an uncertain recovery period, with connections yet to commit to whether she will return to racing at all.