City Of Troy© Photo Healy Racing
With a superstar colt comes “pressure”, concedes Aidan O’Brien, but also “excitement” – and that and more will be in play for the master of Ballydoyle when he saddles City Of Troy for the Coral-Eclipse on Saturday.
So disappointing in the 2000 Guineas, for which he had been the red-hot favourite throughout the long winter months, the Justify colt roared back at Epsom in the Derby, and now becomes O’Brien’s first winner of the premier Classic to go to the Eclipse.
O’Brien – who has seven Eclipse victories on his CV, the most recent of them being Paddington 12 months ago – has been happy with what he has seen since Epsom, but acknowledges City Of Troy will face one or two new experiences at Sandown.
“He has grown up and matured and we’ve been very happy with everything since Epsom,” he said.
“It was a very disappointing run at Newmarket and we were going into a lot of unknown territories at Epsom.
“We had a long way to get back from and you are never sure until it happens. We knew what he was last year, we knew what he was able to do, but we knew what happened in Newmarket – there was a lot riding on it (the Derby) for everybody.
“I was delighted, relieved, thrilled for everybody really. All you can ever do is your best and that is what we do every day. Hopefully everything goes well – he seems well, so hopefully he runs a good race.
“He’s a unique horse and with that type there has to be pressure, everyone knows what he can do and there’s a sense of excitement and anticipation to see what is going to happen.
“It’s his first run over a mile and a quarter, it’s his first run on a right-handed track and Sandown is undulating as well. There’s a lot of unknowns, it’s his first run against older horses, so I think everyone is looking forward to it.”
He went on: “We never thought any distance was a problem for him, from his time as a two-year-old he always galloped through the line, that’s what he does, he never seemed to be stopping in any of his races.
“We didn’t think coming back in trip would be a problem for him and I’m sure the lads have an eye on the (Breeders’ Cup) Classic at the end of the year, obviously they make their minds up race to race, but I think they have their eye on that.”
In third place at Epsom was stablemate Los Angeles, who stepped up to the plate to land the Irish Derby at the Curragh.
O’Brien went on: “He (City Of Troy) proved what he could do at Epsom over a mile and a half and the lads are very happy to expose horses to new things, they are not afraid of travelling and not afraid of getting beat, which is great for racing, they let them compete to see what will happen.
“If we’d wanted to play safe, he would probably have been a very short price in the Irish Derby; because he didn’t go, all the horses who went to Epsom competed again. So all those factors came into it and we obviously had another horse with a chance of winning it.
“I suppose they thought the Eclipse was the right thing to do for the bigger picture, taking on older horses for the first time and some three-year-olds, it definitely wasn’t the wrong thing for the horse either, as we’d learn more about him.
“I’m sure we considered the Eclipse for our other Derby winners, but I’m not sure any of them had the pace he had at two. They were all great horses, but he was champion two-year-old and won a Dewhurst.
“He had that profile from the very first day he raced and he has just looked different.
“He’s unique for us in what he is already, and I suppose we have to try to help him and guide him in the right direction and help him perform to the best of his ability. As he is at the moment, he is just really unique really.”
