‘My Horse Sets a High Bar’: Moore Confident as City Of Troy Sits Big York Test

York’s G1 Juddmonte International was designed to bring the very best to the famous Knavesmire venue and it has achieved that on Wednesday with City Of Troy (Justify) ready to rock and roll over the flat, fair mile-and-a-quarter. Due to a variety of factors beyond his control, Michael Tabor’s ‘Frankel‘ has probably yet to show his true material, with slow ground on Future Champions Day and in the Eclipse blunting his speed and heavy traffic on the contours at Epsom curtailing his impressive stride.

There is a feeling that this combination of fast summer ground, extended 10-furlong trip and even terrain will serve as the key conditions for him to showcase the brilliance that John Magnier talked about having seen so often at Rosegreen but not yet fully on the track as he reflected on the colt’s anti-climactic display at Sandown.

It is worth reiterating his remarks here again. “The year is long and we’d just like to see him really run on his ground,” the Coolmore supremo stated. “What Aidan and Ballydoyle think about him and see in the morning is just incredible and we want people to see it, so hopefully it’ll happen before the end of the year. I’ve been there watching him work and seen the times he does without being asked. We’ll see what the next day brings.”

Ryan Moore is giving all the right signals ahead of Wednesday. “Several have chances but, in terms of group 1 ability, I can’t help feeling that the main players all have some sort of questions to answer and need to come up to City Of Troy’s level,” he said. “It’s a competitive renewal, but my horse sets a high bar that the rest have to try to reach.”

Aidan O’Brien added, “What he has been doing has just been on raw ability,” he said. “We thought he was still green in the Derby and then we went to Sandown and we were happy there was plenty of time between Sandown and York to tweak a few things. The weather looks like it means the ground should be better than Sandown and York has a nice, long home straight that we hope will suit him given his stride.”

Not So Friendly Rivalry…
Whatever City Of Troy brings to the table in terms of class and aura, the Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) remains a formidable rival given how strongly he was moving along at Epsom entering the closing stages. The Irish Derby proved that a stiff mile-and-a-half test is not what he needs and he looks an ideal type for this race.

Jockey Robert Havlin is of that opinion. “If you stopped both Derbys at the two-furlong marker, he’s probably the only one still on the bridle so you would have to think that dropping back will help,” he said. “It looks like being the race of the season, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’d like to hope that he can reverse form. He’s a really strong traveller with a very high cruising speed and he goes up through the gears on the bridle. I think the slick track and strong pace at York will play to his strengths and a big field is no problem, as he’s not lazy. If a gap appears he’s one that can instantaneously fill it, because he travels so well.”

Can Calandagan?
The Aga Khan and Francis-Henri Graffard have enjoyed a banner year up to now and given that Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) is a six-length winner of Royal Ascot’s G2 King Edward VII Stakes there is no reason for him not to be here. That was over a fiercely-run stiff mile-and-a-half, however, and this trip on this track on this ground will demand more earlier speed which he may or may not possess in the requisite quantity. His G3 Prix Noailles and G3 Prix Hocquart wins over this kind of distance came on testing ground, so we will find out a lot more about him here.

“He’s ready for the next level and we’ll see where we stand,” Graffard said. “The opposition is very strong, but I think York will suit him as it’s a big, galloping track with a long straight compared to somewhere like Deauville.”

Best Of The Elders…
Ralph Beckett has dared again with Juddmonte’s TDN Rising Star Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}), as he did at Ascot in the King George where he was rewarded his faith in spades. Back over the course and distance of her G2 Middleton Fillies’ Stakes win in May, she adds depth to the contest as does the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes runner-up Zarakem (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}). Trainer Jerome Reynier has the Arc in mind for the latter and said, “It is going to be a very strong test. Obviously, he ran a really good race at Royal Ascot and he showed he was able to deal with the fast ground at the highest level. We are going to wait at the back for some pace and hopefully we will be finishing as fast as the other day. He looks amazing and he’s been training very well. We are really looking forward to seeing him again in England and his final target will be the Arc in early October and we thought this was the perfect race to use as a trial.”

Shadwell’s dual G2 York Stakes winner Alflaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is three-from-four at this track, while Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum’s Maljoom (Ire) (Caravaggio) has the class to win a race of this nature and if he can improve off his latest G1 Sussex Stakes second will be in the reckoning. “It was a massive run at Goodwood, where he was second to a Guineas winner and an exceptional horse and everyone was in agreement afterwards that the step up to a mile and a quarter would help him and was the next logical step,” jockey Tom Marquand said.

Strong Voltigeur Boosts Opening Fixture…
While the G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes is always a key pointer to the St Leger, the 12-furlong contest can sometimes suffer in the shadow of the card’s feature race but this year is a very different proposition. In any other year, the Irish Derby winner would be expected to appear in the Juddmonte International but with Ballydoyle already running their best there Los Angeles (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) is in the group 2 with a penalty. Fast ground will serve as a new test for him here and Aidan O’Brien, who also saddles the G2 Queen’s Vase winner and G1 Grand Prix de Paris runner-up Illinois (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), needs to confirm his stacked Leger pack.

“There are lots of places he can go after it,” he said. “Obviously there’s the Leger at a mile and six, he could go up to two miles or having won the Irish Derby, he could always go back to a mile and four. This race might help us decide where he goes.”

Heading the opposition to the Ballydoyle duo is Mohammed Jaber’s King’s Gambit (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), runner-up to Alflaila in a tactical renewal of the York Stakes last time. “He’s done the donkey work in what I was told was the slowest run 10-furlong race at York ever, which was never going to suit him being a potential 12-furlong horse up against speedy 10-furlong horses,” trainer Harry Charlton said.

“I thought he ran well and more than anything it gave us confidence that 12 furlongs would be within his compass because he was deeply relaxed, lobbing along in front when the others were keen,” he added. “It will be interesting how we get on as we are going in potentially against some stayers and he’s the one coming up in trip. He might be the one with the speed and they will want to go a nice tempo, which he likes.”

Holding Court…
Wednesday’s G3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes could hardly be more intriguing, with Ballydoyle and Godolphin’s impressive debut-winning TDN Rising Stars Ruling Court (Justify) and The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) out to prove their credentials. Ruling Court showed abundant pace at the close of his Sandown maiden and he could have a speed edge over The Lion In Winter with the latter potentially more of a middle-distance prospect.

“We were obviously delighted with Ruling Court on his first start at Sandown and he has definitely come on for the run,” Appleby said. “We always felt that a nice, galloping track like York would suit and we go there with a horse who looked very exciting on his debut.”

Aidan O’Brien has The Lion In Winter’s next target already set in his mind. “He created a nice impression on his debut, it was a nice performance,” he said. “He is just ready to start again and we thought the experience of York would do him good. The track should suit him. We’ve got the Goffs Million possibly in our minds for him and the timing of this race and the experience he should pick up should help with that in mind.”

Interestingly, the Gredleys’ Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB) (Kameko) will offer perspective having run third in the G2 Superlative Stakes won by the Appleby stable star Ancient Truth (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), while Amo Racing’s impressive Redcar novice scorer Diablo Rojo (Ire) (Pinatubo {Ire}) and Robert Barnett’s Our Terms (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who took Ascot’s Crocker Bulteel Maiden, are other key players in a deep contest.