City Of Troy’s historic Breeders’ Cup bid ends in bitter disappointment and he finishes well-beaten

CITY OF TROY’S season ended the same way it started… with huge anti-climax.

He flopped spectacularly in the 2,000 Guineas back in May before restoring his reputation at Epsom and York to keep the Breeders’ Cup dream alive.

Steven Cargill / Racingfotos.com

City Of Troy and Ryan Moore were well-beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Classic[/caption]

But after weeks of anticipation, media attention and even a trip to Southwell, he was beaten barely three strides after the start of the £5 million Classic.

He wasn’t sharp out of the gates and found himself immediately on the backfoot against the speedy US horses, while it looked like he detested the Del Mar dirt under Ryan Moore.

In the end, he plugged on in the straight to finish a distant eighth as owner Coolmore’s insurance chip, Sierra Leone, stayed on best to win at 8-1. Talk about a bittersweet victory.

For all the talk of the three-year-old being the chosen one who could end Aidan O’Brien’s quest to win the Classic, he ended up joining 17 other runners from Ballydoyle who have tried and failed to beat the Americans in their own back yard.

There is no disgrace in coming over and having a go, but clearly there is an enormous difference between working well on the dirt in the mornings and tackling the surface in a big field at a ferocious gallop.

In fact, the first half a mile of the Classic was run in just 44.96 seconds – a new record for the first four furlongs in the history of the race.

City Of Troy will never have gone faster in his life, and it was clear from the get-go he was in deep, deep trouble.

O’Brien said: “He’s grand. I just didn’t have him prepared quick enough to come out of the stalls.

“We thought he was quick but he got left three or four lengths and it gave Ryan and the horse no chance.

“We’re learning all the time and, in my opinion, I should have him coming out quicker and travelling quicker.

“When you get back that far on a dirt surface, you can’t do anything about it. Hopefully we’ll try harder next year.

“I think you have to have them prepared properly. He broke quickly but didn’t get into top gear quickly enough.

“When we brought him to Southwell, we got the other horses to lead him but maybe we should have kicked him out and let him lead.” 

Moore added: “He ran a very brave race. They went very, very fast and he got a load of kick back which he hadn’t experienced before and it was very hard for him.”