City of Troy

Aidan O'Brien has never won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. But it hasn't been from a lack of effort. He's had 13 starters in the race and has run some very good horses, including Galileo (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat). But his luck could very well change this year as he will take aim at the Classic with one of the best horses of this generation. The O'Brien trained City of Troy (Justify) has had an outstanding campaign in Europe, winning six of seven starts, including four...

Legendary trainer Aidan O'Brien joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss City of Troy and other Breeders' Cup-bound trainees. Plus, we learn he moonlights as a dog sitter.

Southwell Racecourse will be opening its doors for free to members of the public who wish to watch City Of Troy (Justify) in action on Friday, September 20. The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt will undertake a racecourse gallop prior to heading to Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup Classic. American starting stalls and an as yet unconfirmed team of stable-mates will join City Of Troy at the Nottinghamshire track as he is put through his paces. Mark Clayton, executive director at Southwell, has confirmed that racing fans wishing to attend will...

City Of Troy (Justify), a winner of the G1 Derby, G1 Eclipse Stakes, and G1 International Stakes this spring and summer, is still on target for a Sept. 20 Southwell gallop, trainer Aidan O'Brien revealed during the Irish Champions Festival media event at Ballydoyle on Monday. The colt is aiming for a start in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 2. O'Brien said, "He can go a mile, probably with four or five other horses and we'll go a good, strong pace and see what will...

City Of Troy (Justify) will head to Southwell for a racecourse gallop on September 20 as part of his build-up to the Breeders' Cup Classic. Winner of the Derby and Eclipse, City Of Troy stamped his authority at York last week when making all for victory in the Juddmonte International, smashing Sea The Stars's course-record time in the process. Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners have made no secret of their Classic ambitions, with City Of Troy appearing a perfect candidate for the headline event at Del Mar. The Ballydoyle...

A tilt at the Qipco Champion Stakes is on the agenda for Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) after his valiant second to a "true champion" City Of Troy in the Juddmonte International at York. Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, Calandagan proved he belonged at the highest level in chasing home City Of Troy, and now connections are eyeing up a return to Ascot where he has already tasted victory in the King Edward VII Stakes. "He came out of the race really well, I am very pleased to see how he took...

There are seven basic plots in fiction - and around the same number in sport. One is the removal of doubt. In language that no actual person ever used, Fleet Street newspapers used to love a win that "silenced the knockers." Racing is not short of those narratives but is unique in attaching them to animals who can't give press conferences, offer excuses, or just say they had an off day. Hence the debate is free to rage around whether a horse such as City Of Troy is as good...

With his win in the G3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes this past Wednesday, The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has broken the fillies' stranglehold on the Timeform 2-year-old rankings, having taken up the mantel as the second-highest juvenile this season. The effort at York earned a 115p, which puts him behind stablemate Bedtime Story (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) at 116p but ahead of Babouche (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) with a 113p and Fairy Godmother (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) at 112p. The new rating is the highest by a juvenile...

The GI Breeders' Cup Classic has been confirmed as the next port of call for City Of Troy following his dominant win in Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International at York. Trainer Aidan O'Brien said, "It looks like City Of Troy is going to go straight to the Classic, I think, listening to everybody. I think he's going to go to one of your tracks [for a racecourse gallop], either Southwell or Ryan [Moore, jockey] mentioned Wolverhampton. "We just want to get him on a different surface, so that's where he could...

YORK, UK -- Those rather dangerous words issued last October after the Dewhurst don't seem quite so bold now. "He's our Frankel," said City Of Troy's part-owner Michael Tabor back then. It may still seem like sacrilege, especially on a day when Juddmonte sponsors the big race, to compare any other Thoroughbred to Frankel, but at York there has truly been no anticipation so intense, no reception so rapturous, since Henry Cecil's wonder horse took the Knavesmire by storm in the Juddmonte International Stakes 12 years ago.  Twelve years gone...

Brilliant horses like City Of Troy (Justify--Together Forever {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) are always on the line when it comes to reputation and aura and there was no disguising the fact that Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International represented his moment of truth regardless of prior achievements. Despite coming to York as a clear-cut 2-year-old champion, an impressive Derby winner and the current holder of an Eclipse, there was a tension in the atmosphere on the storied Knavesmire expanse that was accompanied by threatening and brooding clouds and a strange autumnal air....

   York's G1 Juddmonte International was designed to bring the very best to the famous Knavesmire venue and it has achieved that on Wednesday with City Of Troy (Justify) ready to rock and roll over the flat, fair mile-and-a-quarter. Due to a variety of factors beyond his control, Michael Tabor's 'Frankel' has probably yet to show his true material, with slow ground on Future Champions Day and in the Eclipse blunting his speed and heavy traffic on the contours at Epsom curtailing his impressive stride. There is a feeling that...