Huge success at Cheltenham Sale still sinking in for Camilla Sharples
www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/bloodstock...illa-sharples/323945
Gordon Elliott's travelling head girl, who made a stunning £300,000 profit at Thursday's Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham Festival Sale, says the result is still sinking in after she returned to work as normal over the weekend.
Camilla Sharples, 29, watched on in amazement as her point-to-point scorer Andy Dufresne, in which she had invested €30,000, was bought on behalf of JP McManus for £330,000 following racing on the festival's third day.
Sharples was back at her day job on Friday morning, capping off a remarkable week for all associated with the Gordon Elliott yard, and she paid tribute to her colleagues who helped bring about the success of the son of Doyen.
"I still don't think it's really sunk in but everyone's been so nice and congratulated me," she said on Sunday. "I can't thank the people behind the scenes enough. I had Shane McCann and Keith Donoghue riding him out every day to get him to win his point-to-point, when Jamie Codd gave him a brilliant ride.
"Everyone has been really supportive and without them, he wouldn't have won and wouldn't have made what he did. I was just the lucky one on the end of it all.
"Putting the money into the horse was a bit mad really, I don't have thousands but I took the chance and it worked for me. We all work really hard and doing the travelling job, you're away from the yard for long hours, so to be repaid with a reward like this is unbelievable."
Sharples' immediate reaction on Thursday was to dream of buying a house. Having had time to digest what happened, while she may look to source another horse in time, she remains determined not to squander her haul.
"I won't go mad," she said. "He was my lottery ticket and it paid off, so I don't want to be silly with the money now. I might invest a small amount into another horse but I'm just going to enjoy this one."
Sharples' association with a horse she surely will never forget is far from over, with McManus returning the horse to Elliott's to be trained.
"He's got a brilliant owner so I couldn't be happier," she said. "He came back to the yard and Gordon is going to carry on training him, so hopefully I'll get to look after him and see him progress, which would be brilliant."
On whether she could one day be leading him back into the Cheltenham winner's enclosure, she added: "He could be anything. He won very impressively and he's so laid back, so he's showing all the right signs at the moment. We're all just keeping our fingers crossed."
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