‘Generational-type horse’ City Of Troy to shuttle to Coolmore Australia
Coolmore Australia have announced that Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner City Of Troy (Justify) will shuttle to their Jerry’s Plains-based farm for the 2025 southern hemisphere breeding season, where he will stand for an opening fee of $49,500 (inc GST).
The former Aidan O’Brien-trained four-year-old will be available to breeders in the southern hemisphere off the back of the huge success of his sire Justify (Scat Daddy), who in four seasons shuttling (2019-21, 2023) to Australia has produced 83 winners from 129 starters, with eight of those at stakes level including boom juveniles Storm Boy and Learning To Fly.
Much like his father, City Of Troy’s time on the racetrack was a limited but explosive, with the impeccably bred horse going three starts unbeaten as a juvenile, including winning the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) on his final two-year-old outing, a performance that earned him a Timeform Rating of 125, with only the great Frankel (Galileo) delivering a higher rating in the race this century.
Returning as a three-year-old, and after a disappointing first-up run in the English 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m), City Of Troy bounced back in the most impressive of style to comfortably land the Epsom Derby, winning by two and three-quarter lengths.
Another pair of top-class wins were to follow, in both the Coral-Eclipse (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and International Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2.5f), the latter performance seeing City Of Troy break the track record set by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) back in 2009.
His final start saw him run down the field in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr 1, 10f) at Del Mar on his first try on a dirt surface, with a slow start that day not helping his cause.
Despite having trained a record ten Epsom Derby winners, including some of the greats like Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells), Camelot (Montjeu), and Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact), O’Brien rated City Of Troy as his best winner of the time-honoured contest.
“I’d say no doubt, because he has the cruise, he has the balance, he quickens and he stays,” said O’Brien. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
Bred in Kentucky by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt and raced by Coolmore, City Of Troy is a brother to the Group 3-placed Bertinelli (who now races in Hong Kong under the name Unbelievable) and a half-brother to Group 3 scorer Military Style (War Front) and the Group 2-placed Absolute Ruler (War Front).
He is the fifth foal out of the Galileo mare Together Forever, winner of the 2014 Fillies’ Mile (Gr 1, 1m) at Newmarket and herself a sister to the Epsom Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f)-winning mare Forever Together.
“We’re so excited to stand City Of Troy and offer him to Australasian breeders,” said Coolmore Australia’s sales and nominations manager Colm Santry.
“Aidan O’Brien always considered him to be one of the best horses he’s ever trained, while Ryan Moore also ranks him as the best he’s ridden. He was an incredibly classy horse with a high cruising speed, as we saw so impressively in his three runs at two, which he won by an aggregate margin of more than 12 lengths.
“He’s by far the best son of Justify, with an impeccable Danehill-free pedigree that makes him suitable to all the dominant bloodlines in this part of the world.
“His unbelievable accomplishments on the track saw him become the only horse other than Frankel to receive the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt and Cartier Horse Of The Year accolade in successive years.
“He’s out of a Group 1-winning two-year-old by Galileo, and, given how well shuttle stallions are performing in Australia at present, he’s a very exciting addition to our stallion ranks.”
Santry feels that the results of previous and current shuttle stallions, both from Coolmore and other stud farms, will mean that City Of Troy is ‘extremely well received by Australian breeders’.
“Shuttle stallions in recent years have made somewhat of a renaissance and we expect City Of Troy to be extremely well received by Australian breeders,” he told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The likes of Too Darn Hot, Harry Angel, Justify, and Wootton Bassett in recent years have highlighted how important these sorts of stallions are.
“St Mark’s Basilica’s yearlings have also sold very well so on the back of that City Of Troy has seen an incredible response from the breeders we have canvassed about this horse.”
Meanwhile Justify’s record with Fastnet Rock mares is also a glaring one – bringing about half of his eight Australian stakes winners including his Group 2 winners Storm Boy and Learning To Fly – and Santry is confident City Of Troy is a perfect fit to add to this impressive record.
“Physically City Of Troy combines the best of all of the elements of his pedigree,” Santry told ANZ. “He has the power and strength of Justify which allowed him to become champion two-year-old coupled with the quality and style of Galileo.
“If there was ever a horse tailor-made for Fastnet Rock mares then it is City Of Troy. The Galileo-Fastnet Rock cross is well known and the Justify-Fastnet Rock cross has also proven to be extremely effective as highlighted by Storm Boy, Learning To Fly, Star Of Justice, and Lilac amongst others.
“City Of Troy is a generational-type horse that racing fans will be talking about for decades to come.
“In what was only a very short racing career that spanned eight starts, he won four Group 1s but not only that, he won the Dewhurst by three lengths and he won the International Stakes in shattering Sea The Stars’ track record.
“This is a horse of very rare ability, with one of the best pedigrees in the world, and we feel like he is perfectly suited to the Australian broodmare population.”
Such is the high esteem that City Of Troy is held in by Coolmore, Santry feels the Derby hero is ‘right up there with the best horses that have ever been shuttled to Coolmore Australia’.
“Coolmore and the Magnier family are committed to offering Australian breeders the best possible options internationally and this has been on show for the past ten years with great success,” he told ANZ.
“We feel like City Of Troy is right up there with the best horses that have ever been shuttled to Coolmore Australia.”