City Of Troy © Photo Healy Racing
Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore partners are “back dreaming again” with City Of Troy ahead of the Betfred Derby.
The Justify colt has reclaimed his position at the head of the betting for the premier Classic, despite running a most lacklustre race in the 2000 Guineas on his first start at three.
O’Brien has raised several theories for his eclipse at Newmarket, but his faith in last year’s champion juvenile has never remotely wavered.
In fact, in time spent with the Ballydoyle supremo it is hard not to get carried along with his enthusiasm and given the superstars to have passed through his hands, some of his statements regarding City Of Troy’s ability are startling.
“Everything has been good since (the Guineas) and we just accepted that all these things just happened and went wrong on the day and we’ve decided to stay with the plan. He’s done nothing since to make us change the plan. The plan was always to start with the Guineas and go on to the Derby and then go wherever after that and that’s where we still are,” he said.
“Sometimes it happens and obviously it happened in the Guineas and it happened again last weekend (in the French Guineas, with Henry Longfellow). Sometimes things don’t work and really I would always say that it’s my responsibility to make sure it works and when it doesn’t work, well we’ve done our homework but maybe we didn’t do it all properly. That’s the way I would look at the Guineas.
“When he went down to the start he should have been relaxed, but he went into the stalls and he was revved up. He wasn’t flustered, but obviously his mind wasn’t in the right place, because he’s a very good natured horse as you can see – unusually good for a colt. He’s very calm and relaxed, but it all just happened at the wrong few seconds.
“It will make it very interesting the next day. For us, I’m not sure we’ve ever sent a horse to the Derby with as much ability as this. If we can get him to come out of those gates and everything to work properly for him then we can have him in the right place.”
By an American Triple Crown winner and out of a Galileo mare, what City Of Troy did over seven furlongs last year caught many by surprise. Usually you would be expecting him to improve for stepping up in trip and O’Brien seems to have no question marks over his stamina.
“I don’t think so. I don’t think I ever did (doubt his stamina). I never thought any trip was a problem for him. You’re never sure until you do it, but he has a big, long stride and he’s usually very chilled and relaxed. But it will be a very interesting race now,” said O’Brien.
“I suppose what he did last year – everything he was doing last year, the statistics were adding up. His times, everything. He never disappointed us in any way.
“But we all know horse racing and we all know life – no one knows what’s going to happen in the next half hour. Listen, the Guineas just wasn’t meant to be. I feel like, myself, I hadn’t got him prepared properly, so what we would have learned in the Guineas will hopefully help us to prepare him properly for the Derby.
“He’s obviously by Justify, who was an unbeaten Triple Crown winner, and out of a Group One-winning Galileo mare, so one thing you cannot stop coming out in anything is pedigree and his is as blue as it gets, so hopefully he’s well and we can have him in the right place.”
Asked whether he had to pick the Coolmore team up after the Guineas or if they raised his spirits, O’Brien replied: “The lads are unbelievable because they take disappointment on the chin, that’s the truth. I suppose we’ve been doing it for 30 years now and, as you all know, an awful lot of stuff doesn’t happen.
“Obviously when you get there sometimes it doesn’t happen, and we all think there’s a reason why it didn’t happen, we delved into what we thought the reason was. At the moment we’re back dreaming again.”
Last year, Auguste Rodin disappointed badly in the Guineas before winning the Derby. But O’Brien sees the situations as different.
“The circumstances there were that he (Auguste Rodin) came out of the gates at Newmarket and he got sandwiched both sides and it was over straight away, because here was a horse running in the Guineas that we knew was way short of his best so you know when you’re running in a race everything has to fall for you for it to happen and it just didn’t fall for him either,” said O’Brien.
“It was a bit like that this year with this horse (City Of Troy), nothing fell (right) and it all went against us, but we probably always knew that even though he’d won a Dewhurst and he’d only run over seven furlongs, we always knew he was going to be a middle-distance horse.”
City Of Troy is likely to be joined by a stablemate or two at Epsom, although which ones are still to be decided. In Los Angeles, though, an unbeaten Group One winner of Ireland’s best Derby trial, he has a high-quality contender in his own right.
O’Brien said: “I loved the way Los Angeles won at Leopardstown and the beauty about him is that he’s a horse who we’ve always thought can only get better the further he goes. So the fact he has already won a Group One in France and Ireland’s best Derby trial can only bode well.
“Illinois came forward a good bit from the Ballysax, but it looks very much like he met a good horse (Ambiente Friendly) at Lingfield. He didn’t look in love with the track, but other than not winning I was very happy with him.
“We thought Capulet had a very good chance of reversing the form from Chelmsford (at Chester) with the winner (Bracken’s Laugh) and that’s what happened. He came forward a good bit from that run and is a very straightforward type. We’ve had plenty of interest from Hong Kong for him, but he could still go to Epsom at this stage.”
Asked about Diego Velazquez, O’Brien confirmed the French Derby remains his most likely destination following his fine run to be fourth in the French 2000 Guineas.
“The reason for going to France was the lads were thinking of going to the French Derby and that’s right-handed. We could have gone to the Dante with him, but we felt he wouldn’t have the experience if we decided to go to France so that was his reason,” O’Brien said.
“We thought if we finished in the first four in France then he would run a massive race in the French Derby, but he has an option because he’s still in the Derby at Epsom as well. The lads will make that call as well.
“Christophe (Soumillon) rode him and he said he’s going to win a Group race very quickly, this horse, so he was very impressed with him.”
