3 minute read

City Of Troy will bid to propel himself onto the 2000 Guineas roll of honour when he attempts to become the last winning odds-on favourite in the opening British Classic since Frankel.

Aidan O'Brien's champion juvenile has been the long-time ante-post market leader following empathic victories in the July Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes. The Ballydoyle maestro labelled the sparkling son of Justify as the 'greatest two-year-old he had trained' on the back of that scintillating performance and City Of Troy is now a general 4/6 chance to take his record to a perfect four from four.

Bookmakers were quick to price up City Of Troy in markets for the Triple Crown, which has not been completed in Britain since the great Vincent O'Brien-trained Nijinsky in 1970.

The Justify colt may be as short as 5/1 to win the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and St Leger Stakes, but all eyes are firmly on the prize at Newmarket this afternoon.

"Everything has been good, we've been happy, and everything has gone well in the last few days with him," said O'Brien.

"That piece of work he did last week was the last serious piece he did and thankfully he came out of that really well and everything has been good since.

"Newmarket missed most of the rain earlier in the week and that's good, when you are talking about Classics you always want to run them on nicer ground, really."

Ryan Moore will be bidding to land the prestigious Classic for the first time since partnering O'Brien's Churchill back in 2017 and although clearly excited by his prospects, Moore was keen to stress they will be taking 'nothing for granted' on the Rowley Mile.

"Everyone saw how impressive he was when winning on his debut at the Curragh, and then he went to the July course and beat the recent Craven winner Haatem by a wide margin in the Superlative. He took it up to another level again when winning the Dewhurst, pulling away impressively in the closing stages, and hopefully he can progress even further this season, starting here," said Moore on his Betfair blog.

"As you may have seen on social media clips from the yard, Aidan is very happy, and excited, by him and I am very much looking forward to getting on him, too. But you'd be premature perhaps to think you can simply turn up for a 2,000 Guineas and be assured of victory after an exceptional 2yo campaign - Dewhurst winner Pinatubo was rated 128 and he could only finish third in this race in 2020, although the Guineas was run in June that year because of Covid, so it was a different race in that respect - so we are taking nothing for granted, for all his talent is there for all to see."

Whilst the Aidan O'Brien-trained colt may be all the rage in the betting for Newmarket's Group 1 prize, Moore is certainly wise to the dangers with the likes of impressive Lagardere scorer Rosallion and his stablemate Haatem both high on his raider.

"Several in here will have to take a big leap forward, but I'd certainly respect the chance of Rosallion, as he impressed me when beating our subsequent Breeders' Cup winner Unquestionable in the Lagardere, and that is the only other Group 1-winning form in the race," said Moore.

He added: "There are plenty of unexposed horses here with the potential to improve a good deal, but if you asked me for an each-way bet then I'd probably say Haatem. We beat him well on the July course last year, but he looked an improved horse in the Craven, and one well suited to a mile. I think he is under the radar, and overpriced, because of his stablemate Rosallion.

"The draw looks to be fine for all, and they'll all get their chance, but another who is interesting on form and pedigree is Task Force."