City of Troy

DEL MAR, CA -- It's showtime. Featuring 14 Grade I races worth more than $34 million in purses, the Breeders' Cup World Championships, with an emphasis on World, return to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for a third time, beginning with the 'Future Stars Friday' program. Ideal conditions with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s are expected. A total of 179 horses were entered for the two-day Championships, including a record 67 international participants from nine different countries as well as three previous winners. A stacked renewal of...

DEL MAR, CA - The 'Grizzly' is sitting on go. After a light training session on Tuesday, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) turned in her first local gallop in the pre-dawn hours at Del Mar on a brisk Wednesday morning. The GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff 4-5 morning-line favorite displayed her typical high energy and was an absolute handful beneath exercise rider Danny Ramsey throughout her powerful 1 1/2-mile gallop. "Good?," trainer Kenny McPeek asked Ramsey as Thorpedo Anna was heading off the track....

Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey has won 15 Breeders' Cup races and has watched hundreds more in person as a commentator for NBC Sports. Always on top of things and not afraid to voice his opinions, Bailey joined the TDN Writers' Room Podcast sponsored by Keeneland to discuss Breeders' Cups past and present. When asked who would most want to ride in this year's Classic if he were to come out of retirement, the answer was somewhat of a surprise. He picked GI Whitney S. winner Arthur's Ride (Tapit), who...

Aidan O'Brien was at pains on Tuesday to spell out Team Coolmore's uncertainty as to the prospects of City Of Troy (Justify) mastering the task of Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic. "We think we have him prepared to go forward. Whether he is quick enough to go forward from that slot, in this type of race -- I'm not sure," he said. And therein lies the big question mark regarding how this particular turf impresario transitions to dirt racing first time on the biggest stage. In many ways, the decision...

DEL MAR, CA - With the rising sun attempting to make its way out of a dense cloud cover, contenders for Saturday's $7-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic were out in force during about a 30-minute window following the renovation break at Del Mar Tuesday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Newgate and Pyrenees, a pair of blaze-faced, 4-year-old sons of the all-conquering Into Mischief, both entered on their toes and filled the frame nicely while training with good energy. Newgate, listed at a very generous 20-1 on the morning-line, adds blinkers for...

DEL MAR, USA -- October 2001 was a sobering time to be in New York. Some seven weeks on from the devastating attack on the World Trade Center, the city was shrouded in sadness and America was a nation united in grief for the thousands who lost their lives on 9/11. Horseracing, often referred to as the great triviality, doesn't usually feel like that to those who work in the sport, but it did feel trivial, almost intrusive, to be at Belmont that year for what was a first visit...

Despite never having raced on the dirt in his two seasons at the races, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was assigned gate three as the 5-2 morning-line selection in a full field of 14 and will be ridden by Ryan Moore in Saturday's $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. Deemed by trainer Aidan O'Brien--a two-time runner-up in the Classic (Giant's Causeway, Declaration of War)--'the best he's ever trained,' the son of G1SW Together Forever (Ire)...

Multiple Group 1 winner 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was the first horse into the quarantine barn from the 11-horse Saturday evening ship-in for Ballydoyle at Del Mar, as per a Breeders' Cup release, which references information from the International Racing Bureau. The Aidan O'Brien-trained star is scheduled to make a first appearance on track Tuesday morning. Many of the European horses used the weighing scale in the quarantine barn and connections are reporting positive prognoses for their runners. The arrivals will remain in quarantine until Monday afternoon...

Champion juvenile and 'TDN Rising Star' MGISW Fierceness (City of Light) will join the ranks at Ashford Stud upon his retirement from racing, the farm announced via release Sunday. The champion juvenile from 2023 is a leading GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender and will likely be one of the favorites at post-time. Of the others, Coolmore will have two other rooting interests as well with 'TDN Rising Star' GISW Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and 'TDN Rising Star' MG1SW-Eng City of Troy (Justify) in the race. That group accounts for three...

Bolstered by a record 80 entries from the connections of horses based overseas--smashing the previous mark of 60 set just last year--some 212 horses have been pre-entered for the 2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2. For the third time, the festival will take place at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which hosted the event for the first time in 2017 and again in 2021. "The record number of outstanding international contenders pre-entered this year speaks to the truly global nature of...

All season we seem to have been marvelling at 'another brilliant ride by Ryan Moore.' But the man himself chuckles at the idea that this has been a special year for him. "I suppose looking back there've been good days, but you only remember the last day," he says. "We didn't win the Arc - so it doesn't feel satisfying at the moment." As he says it, he really is laughing at how a recent disappointment can obscure the glories. This is life in the super-elite of world sport, where...

Donnacha O'Brien is looking forward to taking on the boys with Porta Fortuna (Ire) when she bids for her fourth top-level victory of the campaign in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Saturday, November 2. The daughter of Caravaggio has been on a roll since returning to action this season with a narrow defeat to Elmalka (GB) in the 1,000 Guineas, subsequently reeling off a Group 1 hat-trick in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket and Matron Stakes at Leopardstown. All roads now lead...