City Of Troy (second left)© Photo Healy Racing
“The best I’ve ever seen him with Ryan”. Aidan O’Brien got everything he wished for and more having gone to the trouble of taking City Of Troy and four galloping companions to Southwell from Tipperary on Friday for his pre-Breeders’ Cup Classic gallop.
The Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International winner is aiming to break new ground at Del Mar in November by proving it is possible to be a champion on both turf and dirt. But while other Europeans have gone in hope rather than expectation – although Arcangues shocked the world on dirt in 1993 for Andre Fabre – City Of Troy’s sire is Justify, who won the American Triple Crown on dirt.
O’Brien has had 17 runners in the Classic, coming agonisingly close with Giant’s Causeway in 2000 when a neck behind Tiznow.
He also had a gallop in Nottinghamshire before travelling, but in those days Southwell had a Fibresand surface, not hugely dissimilar to dirt. These days it is Tapeta, a more general all-weather surface.
Nevertheless, O’Brien was keen to come to replicate a raceday and with a knowledgeable crowd of over 700 who were admitted for free, the horse knew something different was going on.
Stable companions Congo River (Brett Doyle), Democracy (Wayne Lordan), Master Of The Hunt (Rachel Richardson) and Edwardian (Dean Gallagher) could only take him to the two-furlong pole of the one-mile gallop and then it was left to him to do the rest under Ryan Moore.
While Moore had to get lower in the saddle and send him about his business, when he did that lengthy, raking stride was evident and he pulled further and further clear.
“We broke fast, we had two fast horses up front and then two miler-type horses in front, we knew that they’d have to go faster than him early,” said O’Brien.
“Obviously Ryan wanted to go forward, but he didn’t want to rev him up too much, going to America he didn’t want him in a habit of waiting.
“The pace was strong, the lads purposefully had the track slower than they would ever have done, harrowed deeper, so it was always going to be more gruelling than impressive.
“We were only going to go a mile, it’s a while since he ran and this was always going to be his last good piece of work.
“Ryan got into the straight and he stretched out, you’d have to say you were very happy. He broke well, it’ll be interesting, everyone will have an opinion and I’m sure we’ll be analysed inside out, but it’ll be interesting to see what everyone thinks.”
One reason O’Brien believes he has never had a better chance of winning the Classic is City Of Troy’s racing style.
“He’s a high cruiser and he grinds. In America you prefer not to get kickback and I think everyone in America will tell you that, in an ideal world you don’t get any and horses never really get used to getting it,” he said of the perennial dirt racing problem.
“Some horses will face it and some horses just absolutely despise it, obviously in an ideal world you’d love to be in a position where you’re not getting kickback which happens with the good horses.
“It depends on the draw and the horses around you, also with kickback you can get eye infections and all sorts. It all gets tricky, but he was in behind then and he would have got some kickback because it was much looser than it usually would be today.”
When it was put to him that the most impressive part of the gallop was the final 100 yards, he said: “That’s him always, he’s finishing, that’s when he’s always at his best. That’s always when you want a horse to be at his best, when his stride opens it just doesn’t shorten, it keeps going and going and going.
“Ryan said when he turned in he was only waiting, and when he got down past the furlong marker he started to open up for the line.
“We thought he was our best chance of winning the Classic since Giant’s Causeway. Really from a two-year-old we’ve had our eye on the Classic, that was with the Derby and then the Classic. Giant’s Causeway didn’t run in the Derby, he didn’t get that far.
“If you remember Giant’s Causeway going to the line, in the last 50 yards he just ran out of steam. Going the Derby trip would have really tested him, whereas this fella was changing legs going to the line and he took off again at Epsom.
“I thought today was his best, he broke very relaxed and Ryan had his hands down on him in a very relaxed manner. He turned into the straight and when he asked him to open up he was as straight as a gun barrel.
“Today was the best I’ve ever seen him with Ryan. Rachel (Richardson) rides him every day and he’s not for kids. He will maul you, you saw him at York when he was with Ryan and he was mauling him turning in, but when the tempo is strong like it was today, I thought Ryan was beautiful on him, he was floating.
“When he said ‘go’ he just kept going straight, it was all in a rhythm. He’s different, he knows it and he’s confident. Today was a test of that.
“He was keeping plenty turning in for Ryan when he wanted it and then he was going to give it him. It wasn’t nervous energy, I loved the way he came up the straight and galloped out.”
Reflecting on the day as a whole, O’Brien was stunned at the reception, stopping for selfies and autographs all along the rail.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but we’re very grateful to everybody because he would have felt it, there’s an unbelievable atmosphere,” he said.
“The minute we stopped we could feel the atmosphere and he was walking around the parade ring all that time before, that is priceless for him. He felt he was racing today and it was all lovely, he still worked and he blew off quick.
“I don’t think anyone could have done more, everybody here was a big help to him.
“He has to come out of it, he has to be OK tomorrow and then his programme will start from there.”
