Duke Of Cornwall N may be the real thing

Australian harness racing trainer Tahnee Camilleri has been around Standardbred horses since she was 15 years old, but never did she dream of one day having a horse like Duke Of Cornwall N to train.

The New Zealand import makes his USA debut Saturday in the 6^th race pace at the Meadowlands off a very impressive qualifying win last week.

Camilleri, who lives in Robbinsville, NJ, hails originally from Sydney, Australia. She has been training standardbred in the USA since 2009 and is currently ending her second-best season in the USA as a trainer.

Currently, Camilleri and her small stable of 6 to 8 horses, have made 122 starts in 2022 with 27 wins, 30 seconds and 18 third place finishes, good for earnings of more than $575,000 and a UTR (Universal Training Rating or battling average) of .407. And the season is not yet over for her.

She has also tasted great success a few years ago training the top pacer, Dancin Lou, who earned nearly $1 million, had a record of 1:47.2 and won a Breeders Crown race. Now comes Duke Of Cornwall N (Sweet Lou) into her life.

“I just got a text message out of the blue,” Camilleri explained. “It was Richard Poillucci and I sorta knew the name was familiar. And he wanted to talk with me about training a horse for him. I immediately googled his name and realized this is the Shartin N man!”

The horse he wanted Camilleri to train was Duke Of Cornwall N, a four-year-old stallion by Sweet Lou. A winner of just $28,000 lifetime, Duke Of Cornwall N started nine times as a two-year-old with four wins and he started four times this year with two wins and a third place finish before being shipped to the USA and to Camilleri’s Stable.

“When it comes to trackwork (morning routines) he’s (Duke Of Cornwall) is a typical Sweet Lou,” Camilleri explained. “He just does what he has to, nothing more, nothing less than what you ask from him.”

Once Camilleri felt she had him ready for some fastwork, they took Duke Of Cornwall to Harrah’s Philadelphia where he schooled/trained in 1:55.

Then came last week’s qualifier at The Meadowlands.

“It was quite a big surprised how he qualified last week,” Camilleri said. “I was not expecting that.”

Last Saturday, Duke Of Cornwall qualified at the Meadowlands with Andy McCarthy driving. It was a rainy, miserable day and the judges called the track sloppy with a two second allowance.

As the starting gate pulled away, McCarthy left with Duke Of Cornwall and he cut fractions of :29, :57.3 and 1:26. At the top of the stretch he began to pull away from the field and won in a romp by seven and one-half lengths in 1:51.4 and his last quarter mile was an amazing :25.4 over a sloppy track.

“I’m surprised he has that kind of speed,” Camilleri explained. “His races in Australia showed that he could really stay with the field. I didn’t think he had that kind of closing speed. That mile was the biggest shock out of everything. To be competitive in the big races he has to have that ability.”

And what did fellow countrymate Andy McCarthy have to say to Tahnee Camilleri after that amazing qualifier on a sloppy track?

“Andy said there has already been two qualifiers and the trucks on the track. It’s safe but it’s just slow he said. We won’t be going in :52.

“Then I saw the teletimer flash up and I was like that can’t be right?” Camilleri explained. “There must be a mistake. Then I went on the track to get the horse and I looked at Andy and said “is that time right?” and all Andy said was “this horse is f’n fast!” and his jaw was dropped, he looked so surreal and that was all he said to me.”

In his USA debut on Saturday, Duke Of Cornwall drew the outside eight post and is the 9/5 race favorite against some seasoned young horses including American Classic (post 7) who is going for his third straight win.

“He is racing against some nice colts,” Camilleri said. “They are racefit and nothing quite beats race fitness. It’s not going to be a walk in the park.”

DUKE OF CORNWALL N QUALIFYING REPLAY

There are no plans at the moment to consider racing Duke Of Cornwall in the upcoming Borgata Series at Yonkers Raceway. Camilleri says “maybe two or three starts to close out the year, then a month in the field and then back to training for the stakes season. Richard Poillucci and Jim King, Jr. did that with Shartin N and it worked well for them.”

Currently Camilleri’s Stable has been red hot with Chuppah On winning Tuesday at Yonkers, Machiavelli winning his last three starts at Harrah’s Philadelphia, Letsgotobrazil A winning at the Meadowlands, Beyond Words N at Philly and the list goes on with other horses that are finishing second and third consistently.

“I try and put my horses in races they can win,” Camilleri said. “I’m happy to travel to do that. It’s definitely worth it.”

How does Camilleri feel about Duke Of Cornwall N’s chances this Saturday evening?

“I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself,” Camilleri explained. “But I am a little excited about this one. It’s going to be an acid test on Saturday. I would have liked to have had an easier race for his first start, but here we are. He has to face the music sometime.”

For Saturday’s free race program, click here.

For complete Saturday race entries, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink