City Of Troy Beats Sea The Stars’ Record In International Stakes

Aidan O’Brien hailed City Of Troy (3c Justify – Together Forever, by Galileo) as “the most special horse we ever had” after the Coolmore homebred set a new track record in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

The son of Justify was sent off favourite to repeat the Epsom Derby/ Coral-Eclipse/ Juddmonte International treble completed by Sea The Stars 15 years prior, and broke smartly to make all under a masterful Ryan Moore. The bay was asked to quicken from two furlongs out and began to run on strongly when asked approaching the final furlong. He kept on well to score by a length, as the gallant Calandagan (Gleneagles) finished three and a half lengths clear of the third.

City Of Troy’s performance was made even more impressive by bettering Sea The Stars’ track record by almost a second, in the largest field ever for the International Stakes.

“I think we see the best of him when he bounces out strong and is let to rock,” O’Brien reflected. “He gets into a massive tempo and he really keeps going. The length of his stride in the last two furlongs was incredible. Ryan said he went to the line very strong.”

On what’s next for City Of Troy, O’Brien said, “The lads can do whatever they want but we always dreamed that he would be a Classic horse. He stays, he's tough, we're hoping the lads may go to the Classic with him, that would be some dream for him.”

MV Magnier was on the same page. “The Classic is the dream,” he said. “It's a shot to nothing, so we may as well give it a go. People want to see horses do different things. That's what they want. Why not give it to them?”

On their Classic hopeful, Magnier continued, “He beat Sea The Stars's record by more than a second and that speaks volumes really. He's a very special horse and we are very lucky to have him.”