"I'd noticed that recent Auckland Cup winners had led in the home straight so I asked him to go. I knew being one of Mark Oulaghan's horses he'd stick it out."
Cameron was white when he returned and that was no surprise. He copped a serious kick just above the knee at last Tuesday's Matamata barrier trials and even when he discovered there was no breakage he was still unsure he could ride through the Auckland Cup/Derby carnival.
Then, when that hurdle was cleared, he had to concern himself with Who Shot Thebarman's 52.5kg.
The saddle Cameron had to use was about the size of your wallet.
The surprise for many was that Who Shot Thebarman, a $2.50 at tote close, was able to pull hard in running and stick the race out in a tight finish.
An even greater surprise is that Matt Cameron declared that, despite appearances, Who Shot Thebarman does not actually fight his jockey.
"It's just the way he uses his cruising speed."
Mark Oulaghan is best known as a jumping trainer, but in reality there is no such thing. Training a stamina-based horse is the same, jumps or not.
"Certainly, this is the best flat race I've won," said the Awapuni horseman, whose speciality has been winning the Grand Nationals at Christchurch.
There might be a better one. Who Shot Thebarman is entered for the up-coming Sydney Cup and all indications are the horse will travel across the Tasman.
Looking at the revelry among the O'Leary clan at the winner's party, that looms as a certainty.
"He's got 52kg in that race at the moment, but I don't know what sort of re-handicap he's likely to get for winning this race," said Oulaghan.
Shaune O'Leary said the family were not that impressed by Who Shot Thebarman as a weanling.
"He was a scrubby little bugger and no one was keen on him, but then he grew into quite a nice 2-year-old and they all wanted to be in him. Humphrey, Danny, Michael and I race him."
Celtic Chief more than justified the decision of Bjorn Baker to come from Sydney when he picked up $87,500 for second and nearly tore off the race.
The 4-year-old looked like picking up the winner 120m out, but appeared to come to the end of his run inside the 100m. The three-quarters of a kilo overweight Sydney jockey Brenton Avdulla posted may not have helped in that tight finish.
More Than Sacred did a great job of coming from well back in running to take third ahead of topweight Travolta and southerner Black Stockings.
White Robe Lodge stud manager Wayne Stewart always thought the best was yet to come with the progeny of Yamanin Vital - and he could be right.
The siring son of Sir Tristram died of a bowel blockage in October 2009, but he made his mark on the track yet again when Who Shot Thebarman won the Auckland Cup at Ellerslie yesterday.
The North Taieri stud sold the now 5-year-old gelding as a yearling to trainer Mark Oulaghan and his owners, the O'Leary family. "He was a lovely type of horse then," Stewart said.
"They wanted to buy a yearling, so we picked him out - we thought he was a nice horse."
Who Shot Thebarman joins Cluden Creek (2004 Wellington Cup), Cut The Cake (2003 New Zealand Derby) and Herculian Prince (2010 Sydney Metropolitan) as group one winners for Yamanin Vital.
"I always said the best was to come from him. He got better-quality mares in the last few seasons before he died," Stewart said.
"He's done a huge job."Additional reporting, Matt Smith
