Tarfah, dam of Camelot, to Giant’s Causeway

Patrick McCann

Tarfah, dam of European champion Camelot (pictured), has been shipped to Ashford Stud to mate with leading sire Giant's Causeway

Tarfah, the dam of two-time European champion Camelot, has been shipped to the U.S. to be mated with 2012 leading sire Giant’s Causeway at Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky.

“She was sent from England over here,” Ashford Stud general manager Dermot Ryan said. “That shows how international [Giant’s Causeway] is, when you see mares of that caliber coming over here.”

Camelot established himself as one of Europe’s elite young stars, earning European champion 2-year-old honors in 2011 and following up as champion 3-year-old last year. The Montjeu colt won the first two legs of the English Triple Crown in 2012—the Investec Epsom Derby and the QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas—but his attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky II in 1970 fell short in September, when he finished second by three-quarters of a length to Encke in the Ladbrokes St. Leger.

Camelot, owned by the Coolmore partnership and trained by Aidan O’Brien, has won five of seven starts for earnings of $2,853,313. He also won the Irish Derby in 2012.

Tarfah, a Group 3-winning Kingmambo mare, has produced two winners from as many to race.

Giant’s Causeway finished 2012 as North America’s leading sire by earnings, marking the third time he has accomplished that feat in the past four years. He stands at Ashford Stud for an advertised fee of $85,000.