City Of Troy (dark blue) alongside Master Of The Hunt (pink) with Democracy (orange & blue) and Congo River (right)© Photo Healy Racing
City Of Troy came home a long way clear of four stablemates in his highly-anticipated racecourse gallop at Southwell on Friday.
The son of Justify has won six of his seven starts for Aidan O’Brien, who was keen to give his superstar colt a taste of an artificial surface ahead of a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
While Southwell’s Tapeta track is very different to the dirt he will encounter at Del Mar on November 2, the Ballydoyle team did their best to ensure City Of Troy otherwise got as close to a raceday experience as possible in Nottinghamshire, flying over a set of American starting stalls and using a bell in the gate.
After being paraded in front of a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd, the three-year-old was walked in front of the stands before cantering to the one-mile start and being loaded into stall three under big-race jockey Ryan Moore, with Congo River (Brett Doyle) in one, Democracy (Wayne Lordan) in two, Master Of The Hunt (Rachel Richardson) in four and Edwardian (Dean Gallagher) in gate five.
Although City Of Troy made much of the running when winning last month’s Juddmonte International at York in a record time, it was notable more waiting tactics were adopted in this thorough workout, with Moore settling him at the rear of the quintet while Congo River set a sound gallop out in front.
As Congo River and Democracy began to falter, the Derby hero moved ominously alongside before the home turn before being pushed clear by Moore, powering through the line to finish in splendid isolation.
O’Brien said: “It’s a pleasure and privilege for us to come (to Southwell) and we’re so grateful to everybody for making this day happen and making it such a success.
“We’re so grateful to everyone for providing an atmosphere, the track was beautiful and all the facilities, so we feel very privileged.
“He’s a unique horse, we always thought he was, and we’ve tried to do our best for him to show that he’s something different.
“We’ve tried to prepare him for a (Breeders’ Cup) Classic, we’ve never won it and know how tough it is. When he came along we felt that he was the horse that could make it happen. There’s never any guarantee with anything, but we felt if we looked under every stone that he’d have a good chance.
“The lads slowed up the surface today, which was brilliant, and made it a bit closer to dirt. It was tough and was never going to be over impressive to look at I suppose, but we were very happy and Ryan was very happy.
“There was an even pace and he stretched out well, so hopefully he’ll come out of it and we’ll look forward to the Breeders’ Cup with him now.”
He went on: “We’ve had them (American stalls) for a long time now. We were going to America and horses weren’t breaking very well, they were losing two or three lengths at the stalls, which was making it very difficult, so the lads went over and got American stalls and it was brilliant.
“The lads loaded them up perfect and City Of Troy jumped on the bell and was very quick. We knew the other four were going to be forced a bit stronger early because we didn’t want him to be in front, but at the same time Ryan said he was going to go forward because when he goes to America he’ll go forward.
“It all worked out perfect, we think. The trip, the day away, but I think the big thing was the track and the surface – it’s fast and left-handed and flat and the surface was more demanding than anything we could get other than grass.
“We’ve ticked all the boxes we think we should have ticked, that doesn’t mean you’ll get success, but at least if you fail that way you’ve failed doing your best, so we’ll try.”
On City Of Troy’s schedule from now until his trip to America, O’Brien added: “He’ll have a day off tomorrow and then he’ll start riding out again and his momentum will build from there.
“He’ll work once or twice a week, depending on how he is, and I think the plan is that he’ll go to America six, seven or eight days before.
“He’ll canter on the dirt for three or four days, he’ll probably do some paddock work and some stalls work and that will be it really.
“A day in a racehorse’s lifetime is very long and he has a lot of days to get through, so we’ll try to mark down the days. Hopefully he’ll come back and be fine tomorrow first and on we go after that.
“We think he’s like Giant’s Causeway, but he’s quicker and Giant’s Causeway went close to winning the Classic (second to Tiznow in 2000).
“This horse has a little more zest than Giant’s Causeway and has a long stride. He’s dour like him and his stride doesn’t shorten it lengthens, he’s tactically fairly quick, so he has a lot of those similarities, but we think he has a little bit more class.
“Justify is an incredible horse, like something we’ve never seen. He’s made like a big quarter horse and was still able to get a mile and a half, so that’s very rare.
“He’s a Triple Crown winner and we thought we’d never be lucky enough to get our hands on a stallion like that again. It’s so exciting for us, as horses that he sires will be able to run on the dirt and the grass and City Of Troy should improve on dirt, so it will be very exciting.”
Moore said: “He achieved what the objective was, and it’s about six weeks now (to Del Mar).
“I’ve never won it (Breeders’ Cup Classic), but he’s an unusual horse and he showed how good he is at York. If he can transfer that level of ability to the dirt, then you’d like to think he’d be in the mix.”
