City of Troy silenced his doubters in emphatic fashion as last year's champion juvenile bounced back to form with a dominant success in the Epsom Derby (G1) June 1 at Epsom Racecourse.
UNREAL! CITY OF TROY wins the @betfred Derby!
— Epsom Downs Racecourse (@EpsomRacecourse) June 1, 2024
Trainer Aidan O'Brien has DONE IT AGAIN 😮 pic.twitter.com/42FvzE28Ct
Ballydoyle's latest star was a bitterly disappointing ninth on his seasonal reappearance in the Two Thousand Guineas (G1) but he rebounded from that defeat with a brilliant performance. He beat the strong-traveling and well-backed Ambiente Friendly to land his second group 1 after his sensational success in last year's Dewhurst Stakes (G1).
This was a record-extending 10th Derby victory for trainer Aidan O'Brien and a fourth for jockey Ryan Moore.
City of Troy, the 3-1 favorite, broke from stall 1 and was settled towards the rear of the field by Moore as his stablemates Euphoric and Los Angeles forced the pace. Voyage unseated Pat Dobbs out of the stalls and later intimidated the runners in the home straight.
" [Aidan O'Brien] always said that this is a fantastic horse. He proved that as a 2yo winning the Dewhurst, and now he's won the Derby, and I'm sure he's got a great future."@jess_stafford_ spoke with @coolmorestud's Michael Tabor about Derby winner CITY OF TROY. pic.twitter.com/w6aPMjctdd
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) June 1, 2024
Moore had ground to make up in the home straight but made it swiftly towards the inside of the track aboard City of Troy, who found generously on his first start beyond a mile to win by 2 3/4 lengths.
"It was hard to know what would happen today, but I was very sure we had the best horse," Moore told ITV Racing. "At Newmarket, it didn't happen and we can't pretend we knew it would happen but we do know he has a big engine.
"He showed himself to be a brilliant 2-year-old. In the Guineas, we got a few things wrong, but it's great that he could come back today. He was still a little bit immature, it's the first time he's run around a bend and hopefully, there's plenty more to work on.
"It was sensational. He was going to win very easily and then with the loose horse in front of him, he was still a bit unsure, but he galloped out strong. He quickened well and kind of waited so you'd have to be delighted with what happened today."
City of Troy holds entries in the St James's Palace Stakes (G1), Irish Derby (G1), Eclipse Stakes (G1), Irish Champion Stakes (G1), and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1). Betfair reacted by cutting him to 5-1 (from 16) for the Arc Oct. 6 and 12-1 (from 20) for the Eclipse July 6.
Co-owner Michael Tabor of Coolmore told FanDuel TV's Jess Stafford after the race that City of Troy could likely venture to the United States and try the dirt sometime in the near future.
"It's obviously on our mind," said Tabor. "We're going to sit down and think about it. It's always been a passion of ours to try to win the (Breeders' Cup) Classic. We were second with Giant's Causeway (in the race in 2000) and being by Justify you think surely we'll give it a try eventually. Although having said that we have Sierra Leone (in the U.S.) who will obviously be a horse for the Classic."
City of Troy's sire Justify , who stands at Coolmore's U.S. stallion operation, Ashford Stud, captured the 2018 U.S. Triple Crown. The son of Scat Daddy sired his first classic winner with City of Troy.
"I'm so grateful to everybody," O'Brien said. "The exciting thing for us is Justify. He looked very special all the way and the class that they have, they have speed and stamina. Ryan gave him an incredible ride.
"We knew the Guineas went totally wrong, I made mistakes training him and that's the bottom line. There are stones that I didn't look under. He was too fresh, was unprepared and that was the reality of it. We all know the facts and we spoke about it.
"I knew the ability he had but he was too fresh going into the Guineas. Since then, everything has been beautiful. The cruising speed that he has, and the ability he has, it's very exciting for everybody."
When asked if City of Troy was his best Derby winner, he said: "I'd say no doubt."
Ambiente Friendly, who was the subject of a high-profile jockey switch, raced more prominently than the winner and ran creditably under Robert Havlin for James Fanshawe to finish second.
The Leopardstown Derby Trial Stakes (G3) winner Los Angeles finished third under Wayne Lordan, while Green Team Racing filled the fourth and fifth places with Deira Mile and Sayedaty Sadaty. Last year's Futurity Trophy Stakes (G1) winner Ancient Wisdom finished eighth for Godolphin.
Pedigree and Breeding Ramifications
It has only taken Justify two crops to produce a classic winner and City of Troy repaid Coolmore's faith in both himself and his Kentucky-based sire with a commanding Derby victory.
Bred by Coolmore affiliate Orpendale, Chelston and Wynatt, City of Troy is one of six individual group/grade 1 winners by Justify, who blazed brightly in the spring and summer of 2018, when the son of Scat Daddy became the first unbeaten winner of America's fabled Triple Crown.
Producing a champion 2-year-old who has added classic glory to his list of accomplishments is enormous for both Justify and the future stud career of City of Troy, and the magnitude of the achievement was uppermost in the thoughts of Coolmore's MV Magnier.
"It's huge," he said of the victory. "It's something we couldn't have imagined but Dad (John Magnier) was always very, very keen on Justify and he always thought he would be a perfect outcross for the whole thing. To be fair to the lads, they put their neck on the line and it ended up paying off for them."
MV Magnier signed for City of Troy's dam Together Forever as a yearling at the 2013 Goffs Orby Sale where she was offered by Ballylinch Stud on behalf of her breeders Vimal and Gillian Khosla.
The daughter of Galileo cost €680,000 and went on to win the Fillies' Mile (G1) and finish fourth in the Irish Oaks (G1) as a 3-year-old. City of Troy is the best of her offspring and is the year-younger full brother of Bertinelli, who won the London Gold Cup and was third in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot. Now racing in Hong Kong as Unbelievable, he was third in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup (G3) at Sha Tin last month.
Together Forever's full sister Forever Together won the 2018 Epsom Oaks (G1) and they are half siblings to Speightstown's Prix Jean Prat (G1) winner Lord Shanakill.
