El Shaday still defying muscle disorder ahead of Cairns assignment

By Glenn Davis

Years after being diagnosed with a crippling neuromuscular disorder, trainer Andrew Cameron still marvels at the deeds of veteran North Queensland sprinter El Shaday.

The Bowen-based sprinter - now a nine-year-old – was first diagnosed with muscle tremors, commonly known as Shivers, as a five-year-old.

Horses which suffer from shivers have difficulty holding up their hind leg and have an unusual gait when moving backwards.

El Shaday will be looking for his 12th win at his 69th start in the Open Handicap over 875 metres at Cairns on Tuesday.

“It’s a neurological condition,” Cameron said.

“Not many people know about the condition so all he does in track work is a lot of trotting.

“We’re really surprised he’s still racing so well.

“We got him off Bryan Guy several years ago and he recommended he come to me for a bit of one-on-one care after he was diagnosed with Shivers.”

A son of Pins, El Shaday is coming off a last start third to the Stephen Massingham-trained Bold Type over 1000 metres at Townsville on October 6.

“It was a really good run considering it was his first start for six weeks,” Cameron said.

“He’s won at Cairns and he’ll appreciate any cut out of the ground.”

Cameron trains a small team of 10 horses at Bowen, where he has almost exclusive rights to the club’s training facilities.

“I’ve been here for 10 years after I closed my stables in New Zealand and decided to drive trucks,” he said.

“I moved over here and got the bug back to start training again after I started driving horse trucks again at the Gold Coast.”

El Shaday will be out to snap a 12 month losing streak since his last victory over 1000 metres at Home Hill in October last year.

Despite his run of outs, El Shaday has only had 12 starts since his latest victory and has been placed on four occasions.

Cameron has named the hat-trick chasing Bold Type as the main threat of El Shaday.

“It’s a seven hour float trip for us to get to Cairns so the locals have a bit of an advantage as they only have to cross the road,” he said.

Bold Type returned to his best form winning over 1200 metres at Ewan on September 23 before his all the way win at Townsville last start.