City Of Troy’s historic Breeders’ Cup bid ends in bitter disappointment and he finishes well-beaten
CITY OF TROY’S season ended the same way it started… with huge anti-climax.
He flopped spectacularly in the 2,000 Guineas back in May before restoring his reputation with brilliant wins at in the Derby and Juddmonte International to keep the Breeders’ Cup dream alive.
City Of Troy and Ryan Moore were well-beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Classic[/caption]But after weeks of anticipation, media attention and even a trip to Southwell, he was beaten barely three strides after the starting gates flew open for the £5 million Classic.
He was only half a step slow to break but immediately found himself on the backfoot against the speedy US horses, while it looked from pretty early doors like he was detesting the Del Mar dirt under Ryan Moore.
In the end, he plugged on in the straight to finish a distant eighth as owner Coolmore’s insurance chip, Sierra Leone, stayed on best to win at 8-1. Talk about a bittersweet victory.
For all the talk of this star three-year-old being the chosen one who could finally end Aidan O’Brien’s quest to win the Classic, he ended up joining 17 other runners from Ballydoyle who have tried and failed to win this great and demanding race.
There is no disgrace whatsoever in coming over to the States and having a go at the big one, and to his credit he kept on trying all the way to the line.
But the combination of a ferocious early gallop and alien surface proved a bridge too far.
In fact, the first half a mile of the Classic was run in just 44.96 seconds – a new record for the first four furlongs in the history of the race.
City Of Troy will never have gone that fast in his life, and it was clear as they passed the winning post with a circuit to go that he was in deep, deep trouble.
We came to Del Mar hoping to witness history, but sadly we witnessed the end of the City Of Troy dream.
O’Brien said: “He’s grand. I just didn’t have him prepared quick enough to come out of the stalls.
“We thought he was quick but he got left three or four lengths and it gave Ryan and the horse no chance.
“We’re learning all the time and, in my opinion, I should have him coming out quicker and travelling quicker.
“When you get back that far on a dirt surface, you can’t do anything about it. Hopefully we’ll try harder next year.
“I think you have to have them prepared properly. He broke quickly but didn’t get into top gear quickly enough.
“When we brought him to Southwell, we got the other horses to lead him but maybe we should have kicked him out and let him lead.”
Moore added: “He ran a very brave race. They went very, very fast and he got a load of kick back which he hadn’t experienced before and it was very hard for him.”