City Of Troy Bows Out as Triumph and Disaster Converge at Del Mar

DEL MAR, USA — From the 2,000 Guineas to the Breeders' Cup Classic, he is the horse who has kept us captivated, wondering and engaged, through to season's end. And that, really, is why we are all fans of horse racing. That longing to know what can't be known for sure until those gates spring open, the skirmishes are had, and the winning post looms. 

In the end, for City Of Troy (Justify), unbeaten and burgeoning with promise at two, redeemed in the Derby and then some at Sandown and York after that Guineas flop, the quest for Breeders' Cup Classic glory was a step too far. We won't die wondering though. He tested the dirt and was found wanting on an attritional surface so unlike the green, green grass of home.

Jockey Ryan Moore, his navy silks dusty from the dirt spray, hailed City Of Troy as “brave” to keep on for eighth place, finishing some 13 lengths behind the Chad Brown-trained victor Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the Coolmore second colours. A win, then, just not the preferred outcome. 

“I think he ran a very brave race,” Moore said. “He's come in to Del Mar in the Classic and in the previous two Classics there were only eight or nine runners. Today there were 14 and they went very fast. He was getting a lot of kickback, which he hadn't experienced, and I think he was very brave to keep on.”

Typically, Aidan O'Brien blamed himself. “I just need to step it up a little bit and have him a little bit better prepared,” he said, but agreed that missing the break was a crucial factor in the three-year-old never working his way into the heat of the battle. 

“That was it then really. He just never got into it, they went very hard. It was just a bad day to miss the break.”

After a clean sweep of the three turf races on Friday by O'Brien and Ger Lyons, Ralph Beckett and Charlie Appleby added their own names to the winners' sheet for England with two horses who already boasted good records at the meeting.

The mighty Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) really should be afforded the utmost respect for a CV that runs to seven top-level wins in Dubai, Germany, Hong Kong and now two victories in the Breeders' Cup Turf, at Keeneland and Del Mar.

“He owes us nothing,” said Appleby of the six-year-old Rebel's Romance, who, with William Buick in the saddle, took a prominent position early in the mile-and-a-half test and wasn't for catching, despite the best efforts of the Japanese runner-up Rousham Park (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}).

“With a horse like him, he takes the pressure off you,” he added. “Any big festival meetings, if you're not getting the rub of the green for the first few races, of course you feel the pinch a little bit. When you roll a horse out like him, you know he's going to be giving his best out there. You can only allow him to do that. He never lets us down.”

That is a sentiment with which Ralph Beckett is starting to view his stable jockey Rossa Ryan. On Saturday the trainer stated that the 24-year-old Ryan is getting better month by month. 

Starlust and Rossa Ryan win the Turf Sprint | Horsephotos

Last month he won the Arc for Beckett aboard Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) and now, on his third start at the meeting, he has added the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint to his tally, courtesy of the progressive three-year-old Starlust (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}).

In a race not without drama, including the withdrawal at the start of the mulish Believing (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who had been reluctant to go to post and then unshipped Ryan Moore in the stalls, Starlust survived a stewards' enquiry to give Beckett his first Breeders' Cup victory since Muhannak (Ire) took the now-defunct Marathon in 2008 with the late Pat Smullen aboard.

“Ralph left it up to me, filled me up with a lot of confidence going out,” said Ryan. “I actually spoke to Ryan Moore before the race about just a little bit of guidance and everything. I didn't have the pace to jump early, so I slotted in behind them. I wasn't fierce coming out of the back when I came off the bridle because he always comes good two out.”

He added, “It was just one of those days. Luck was on our side.”

Owners Jim and Fitri Hay were not in America to enjoy this breakthrough victory for the Branton Court Stud-bred Starlust but the colt has given them plenty of high days already with six wins under his belt and a third-place finish in last year's Juvenile Turf Sprint.  

“He was unlucky in the [G1 Prix de l'] Abbaye in the sense that Rossa was nearly put through the rail. It was a good run, very good run,” said Beckett. 

“The other point about why we came here, an important point, is that it was around a bend. He was very good around the bend last year in the Juvenile Turf. We really felt that if he was able to hold onto their coat tails, that would play for him.”

The European domination of the turf contests could not be sustained throughout the remainder of Saturday's card. There were further placings for Appleby's Godolphin squad, with Cinderella's Dream (Ire) (Shamardal) and Beautiful Love (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) taking second and fourth in the Filly & Mare Turf and Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) running on for third in the Mile. But Canada's Horse of the Year Moira (Ghostzapper) won the former at the third time of asking and More Than Looks (More Than Ready) provided trainer Cherie DeVaux with her first Breeders' Cup win in the Mile. 

For British and Irish spectators some of the fizz disappeared from the day with City Of Troy's defeat. But he is at least going home in one piece, vanquished but unharmed, to take up stud duties at Coolmore alongside the previous year's Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) who has one last dance in the Japan Cup later this month. 

The toughest reality of this sport was laid bare on the track at Del Mar in the aftermath of the Breeders' Cup Turf. As Rebel's Romance was led back in to the winner's circle to the delight of the Godolphin team, at stage left Brian Meehan was being hastened into a track vehicle to reach the stricken Jayarebe (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) on the back stretch. The three-year-old, who had progressed with such promise this season, winning the G2 Prix Dollar on Arc weekend, passed the post in seventh but moments later collapsed as he was being eased down by Sean Levey and died from an apparent heart attack.

Triumph and disaster, those twin impostors, are never far from each other in this world, so while we congratulate all those for whom the Breeders' Cup dream became reality, we commiserate with owner Iraj Parvizi and the team at Manton who loved Jayarebe as they come to terms with their worst nightmare.