Breeders’ Cup Next for City Of Troy Following World-Leading Win at York

The GI Breeders’ Cup Classic has been confirmed as the next port of call for City Of Troy following his dominant win in Wednesday’s G1 Juddmonte International at York.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien said, “It looks like City Of Troy is going to go straight to the Classic, I think, listening to everybody. I think he’s going to go to one of your tracks [for a racecourse gallop], either Southwell or Ryan [Moore, jockey] mentioned Wolverhampton.

“We just want to get him on a different surface, so that’s where he could go and then he’ll go straight on [to America].”

On going to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Coolmore partner Michael Tabor added, “It is very difficult, trying to prepare the horse for a different situation and it is a big ask. I noticed someone quoted him at 3-1. That is a short price–that’s a ridiculous price when he’s not used to that surface.

“Naturally we’d love to win it. We’ve gone pretty close with Giant’s Causeway and maybe one day we’ll win–hopefully this year with City Of Troy.”

Beaten just once in seven career starts, City Of Troy produced a career-best effort when adding to this year’s Derby and Coral-Eclipse victories on the Knavesmire, making every yard of the running to win by a length and in course-record time.

Timeform confirmed on Thursday that the son of Justify has been awarded a rating of 130p for that blockbuster performance–the ‘p’ attached to his rating denotes that he is open to further progress–which identifies him as the highest-rated horse in training ahead of runner-up Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), who improved his rating to 129p.

Described by O’Brien as the best horse he’s ever trained, City Of Troy still has work to do on Timeform’s figures to surpass the likes of Hawk Wing, whose peak rating of 136 puts him ahead of Galileo (Ire) and Rip Van Winkle (Ire)–both of whom achieved a rating of 134–among O’Brien’s highest-rated horses.