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City Of Troy set to head straight to Del Mar after Juddmonte success

3 minute read

Aidan O'Brien's Juddmonte International Stakes hero looks set to head straight to the Breeders' Cup Classic.

CITY OF TROY winning the International Stakes at York in England.
CITY OF TROY winning the International Stakes at York in England. Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

Just moments after Content claimed the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, the master of Ballydoyle revealed that City Of Troy would likely head straight to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar.

Yesterday's Juddmonte International winner was cut from 5/2 to 6/4 favourite for the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, but instead, he now looks set to go directly to the Breeders' Cup Classic, with a UK racecourse gallop on the agenda.

An unbeaten two-year-old campaign saw City Of Troy crowned Europe's champion juvenile for 2023, and despite a desperate performance in the 2000 Guineas on his seasonal reappearance, he bounced back in sublime fashion winning both the Epsom Derby and Coral-Eclipse before his sparkling all-the-way success at York on Wednesday.

Connections had multiple options on the turf throughout Europe over the coming months, but the focus now appears to be firmly on his dirt campaign, as he bids to become both O'Brien and Coolmore's first-ever winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic.

A trip to either Southwell or Wolverhampton for a racecourse gallop was noted as preparation for City Of Troy's Breeders' Cup bid, with the trainer looking to get his latest stable onto a different surface ahead of his trans-Atlantic assignment.

"It looks like City Of Troy is going to go straight to the Classic, I think, listening to everybody," explained O'Brien.

"I think he's going to go to one of your tracks (for a racecourse gallop), either Southwell or Ryan 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)."

Paddy Power makes City Of Troy their 4/1 market leader for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in November.


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