City Of Troy Earns Lofty Comparisons After Dewhurst Demolition

City Of Troy (2c Justify - Together Forever, by Galileo) earned lofty comparisons after a devastating display in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, less than 24 hours after stablemate Ylang Ylang captured the Group 1 Fillies Mile.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt was sent off a short-priced favourite to remain unbeaten following a six and a half length victory in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at the July course. He was one of seven Group winners to line up on Saturday and made all of the running under Ryan Moore. Asked to quicken approaching the two furlong marker, he was ridden a furlong later and drew clear to win with ease. The winning margin was three and a half lengths, with another length back to Eben Shaddad (Calyx) in third.

Co-owner Michael Tabor was the first to voice his impressions, saying, “He really is our Frankel. I know the way Aidan speaks. We're all optimists, but this horse is special. No question, he's the real deal.”

It wasn’t the first time City Of Troy had been compared to Frankel, as Ryan Moore later revealed, “I stupidly said to someone privately on the July course after City Of Troy had won that I hadn't seen a two-year-old do that since him. This horse has a long way to go, but he's exciting at the moment and what he's done so far has impressed me. He's a very rare horse I think.”

O’Brien was similarly impressed, having earlier been concerned about the soft conditions. “You need tractor tyres to go on that ground, and he hasn't got that. What he does have is a jet engine and his engine pushed his action through. We usually push them to the limit, but we could never find his limit. That's why he's very unusual.”

Bookmakers shared connections’ views and shortened City Of Troy to even-money favouritism for the 2,000 Guineas and to 9/4 for the Derby, while also introducing him as 10/1 to complete the Triple Crown. When asked on the possibility of attempting the later, O’Brien said, “I would imagine there's no real boundary to his stamina. He's by Justify and it's a trait of the sire that they just keep going. He's out of a Galileo mare as well and something to really look forward to. We don't know where the limit is.”

Adding to the special nature of Saturday’s success was that City Of Troy is a Coolmore homebred out of connections’ Group 1 Fillies Mile heroine Together Forever (Galileo).