Stella Di Camelot gets her sire off the mark at stud with debut win

Triple Classic winner Camelot became the latest freshman sire to get off the mark at stud when Stella Di Camelot opened her account at the first time of asking over 6f at Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

Up with the pace from the start, the two-year-old filly never seemed in trouble, and as the race entered its closing stages she stuck on resiliently to beat Love And Peace by half a length.

Trained by Gianluca Bietolini for her owner-breeder Stefano Luciani, Stella Di Camelot is the second foal out of the winning Blu Air Force mare Star Force. The eight-year-old mare is a half-sister to Italian champion two-year-old colt Blu Constellation, also bred by Luciani, whose biggest success on the racetrack came when landing the Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte.

After seeing his homebred break her maiden, Luciani said: "I wanted to breed more stamina into the family and I adored Camelot, who was such a beautiful mover and had plenty of ability to win at eight furlongs and further. I fell in love with him.

"Gianluca Bietolini is a friend of mine and a very good trainer. Stella Di Camelot is our only horse in France and we have one more in Italy, but I'm a breeder fundamentally.

"She relaxed very well," he continued. "It's important that she had the ability to win over six furlongs over this track, which is not easy. She's an interesting filly and, although it is too early to say what she can do, this is a very good start.

"Star Force is not in foal this year but she has a yearling colt by Worthadd, a son of Dubawi. We also bred the damsire, Blu Air Force. My father was president of the Italian Breeders' Association and as a family we all have the same passion."

Camelot, an eight-year-old son of Montjeu, had a glittering career for Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners with the Racing Post Trophy, 2,000 Guineas, Derby and Irish Derby all falling his way.

He narrowly missed out on becoming the first horse since Nijinsky in 1970 to land the English Triple Cown when going down by just three-quarters of a length to Encke in the 2012 St Leger.

At last year's yearling sales his first crop were well received, with 62 of his sons and daughters selling for an average of 98,296gns. His highest-priced offspring was a colt from the family of Prix du Jockey Club hero New Bay picked up by MV Magnier, Mayfair Speculators and Peter and Ross Doyle for 400,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

We have only seen a handful of his two-year-olds hit the track so far this year, and given that Camelot really excelled as a three-year-old it would be no surprise to see his stock coming into their own further down the line.

There is plenty to come over the next couple of years as he covered a book of 202 mares in 2015 and 208 last year, with this year's crop conceived at a fee of €35,000.

1.35 Saint-Cloud result