City Of Troy brilliant in Dewhurst Stakes romp
Despite there being a doubt about whether he would even take part in the race, City Of Troy cemented his place at the top of this year’s two-year-old tree with a devastating victory in yesterday’s Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.
Having produced a bloodless display in winning the Superlative Stakes (Gr 2, 7f) on his previous start on July 15, one that followed on from a promising winning debut a month earlier, the son of Justify had yet to be tested in soft conditions but was allowed to take his place in yesterday’s Group 1.
Sent off the 8-15 favourite under Ryan Moore, the colt was confidently ridden from the front and, once asked to lengthen approaching the dip on the Rowley Mile, quickened smartly clear of his rivals and only extended his lead when hitting the rising ground, eventually running out a three and a half lengths winner over Alyanaabi (Too Darn Hot) with a further length back to Eben Shaddad (Calyx) in third.
“He’s the most unbelievable horse,” Aidan O’Brien said. “We had no other option, we knew he would hate the ground, but we’ve never had a horse who doesn’t get tired. Everything we’ve asked him to do, he finds it very easy and we’ve never got to the bottom of him – it’s very unusual.
“Ryan rode him with supreme confidence. He said after the first race that it’s definitely not his ground, it’s deep, tacky ground and he’s a beautiful mover. You needed tractor tyres to go on that today and he hasn’t got them but he has got a jet engine. He’s an incredible horse. We’ve never, ever had a horse like that.”
When asked if he was the best two-year-old he had trained, O’Brien simply responded: “He is, absolutely.”
Yesterday’s victory for City Of Troy provided his trainer with a record-equalling eighth success in the Dewhurst, whose 2001 and 2016 winners Rock Of Gibraltar (Danehill) and Churchill (Galileo) went on to win the English 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) the following spring, a race that City Of Troy is now a best-priced 11-10 favourite for at the time of going to press.