THE TIMES
21ST AUGUST 2024
The horse did the talking. City Of Troy beat away all challengers to complete the Derby, Eclipse and now a record clocking Juddmonte International only before achieved by Sea The Stars in 2009. Time to give the colt his due.
The hint of reluctance is that, unlike Sea The Stars, City Of Troy blew out comprehensively in the 2,000 Guineas leading many to mock trainer Aidan O’Brien’s insistence that the three year old was the best of all the champions that he had trained.
The Derby triumph was as noteworthy for O’Brien having achieved a similar Lazarus like resurrection with Auguste Rodin the previous year as it was for City Of Troy’s own excellence. So when the three year old was only workmanlike when winning the Eclipse the weight of O’Brien’s accolade still hung a bit heavy around his neck.
It’s not a very big neck. It’s not City Of Troy’s fault that his stature does not quite match his now pretty well earned reputation. He may be just 16 hands but he is quite light framed and does not carry himself with the same upstanding swagger of Sea The Stars. But he is an extremely elite athlete and yesterday he showed it from the very start.
Thanks to the new Race IQ system which at last gives racing analysis data way ahead of opinion we can see that City Of Troy took 3.24 seconds to get from 0 – 20 mph in the Eclipse Stakes whereas he was up to that tempo in just 2.41 at York. This meant that he was already ahead of his pacemaker Hans Anderson and Ryan Moore wisely opted to then dictate things from the front.
After a rapid 11.88 second furlong he steadied the pace to a clock 12.55 and 12.57 for the next quarter before winding things up in the straight to come home in five consecutive sub 12 second fractions as a series of challengers wilted under the stran.
We will not see City Of Troy on a British track again and it is good that this last image is the best. At full stretch, his neck angles long and low, his stride reaches out relentlessly and the further he goes the more his rivals hurt. He is not a Frankel whose power strained on the rein. He just keeps stretching those forelegs out in front of him and what looked like dangers wilt under the strain.
The outside Royal Rhyme, the Japanese hope Durezza were close up with Ghostwriter but as they faded others weakened too and although then it was only the French Royal Ascot winner Calandagan who loomed as a threat. Calandagan’s misbehaviour at the starting stalls last year got him castrated but his repeated mulish antics yesterday can be forgiven for the race he gave City Of Troy.
For a moment his momentum was such that you thought the favourite could be taken. But Moore and City Of Troy always repelling them. There was a clear length in it at the line with the admirable Ghostwriter another three lengths in third, the mare Bluestocking fourth, Durezza fifth and the Derby third Ambiente Friendly a distant 10th.
The 2m4.32 winning time was a full second quicker than the previous record set by Sea The Stars and as Aidan O’Brien outlined plans afterwards he deserved our thanks as well any well deserved praise. For by putting his reputation on the line by insisting, even against the odds, that this horse was the best he had ever trained he has added a thrilling edge to the season.
It is a long way from finished yet. O’Brien’s Irish Derby winner Los Angeles duly battled home in the Great Voltigeur and he started the day by saddling Sea The Stars son Lion In Winter to earn favouritism for next year’s Derby by an impressive win in the Acomb.
For City Of Troy the tilt is now for the ultimate. No Derby winner has ever doubled up with the Breeders Cup Classic on the American “dirt” surface in November but this could be the one. “That would be the dream,” said Aidan O’Brien. Deeds as well as words.