G1 Winner City of Troy Leads Justify’s International Stakes Double
It was an international stakes double for rising superstar sire Justify on Saturday, led by top European juvenile City of Troy (2c Justify x Together Forever, by Galileo) winning the Group I Dewhurst Stakes.
The undefeated son of Justify was making his third start going seven furlongs at Newmarket, where he faced testing ground labeled as soft. The Aidan O’Brien trainee went straight to the lead in the race and controlled the pace nearly every step.
No other runner could catch the Justify son as he pulled away to win by 3 ½ lengths with Calyx’s Eben Shaddad in third.
"He's impressed me on all his starts and the first day I rode him [at the Curragh] he did something a horse has never done to me before, I couldn't stop him, and that's never happened,” Ryan Moore told Racing Post. "When we ran here on the July course [in the Superlative Stakes] I thought it was as impressive a two-year-old performance as I've experienced at that time of the year. Coming here, I couldn't see how anything could beat him, but the worry was the holding ground as he'd been off a long time, but his performance was commanding again."
City of Troy is a homebred for the Coolmore partners out of the Group I winning Together Forever. That mare is also the dam of Group III winner Military Style and two other stakes performers.
He is the fourth Grade I winner under his first two dams with dam Together Forever a full sister to Grade I winner Forever Together and a half-sister to Grade I winner Lord Shanakill. Under the third dam are Grade I winners Spanish Ferm, Hearts of Fire, and Heatseeker as well.
“He really is our Frankel," said Michael Tabor. "I know the way Aidan speaks. We're all optimists, but this horse is special. No question, he's the real deal.
"That's what we feel at this moment. Maybe down the line we'll have egg on our face, but I like to talk before the event and I really feel this horse could be anything."
Justify also saw Air Assault (3g Justify x Elegant Eagle, by Zabeel) win the Hill Smith Stakes in Australia. It was the second stakes victory for the 3-year-old, who won the Group III Sires’ Produce Stakes as a juvenile.
That gelding is one of three stakes winners out of the three-time winning Elegant Eagle, She also produced the Group I winning Go Indy Go and Group III winner Essay Raider in addition to Group III-placed Battle Brewing. Elegant eagle is also a full sister to the Group I winning Southern Speed.
In a big day for Justify, he also saw juvenile colt Gasper De Lemos (2c Justify x Hence, by Galileo) finish second in the Group III Zetland Stakes.
It’s been a huge October for Justify, who has seen seven of his 14 stakes runners hit the board with six of them winning stakes, led by three juvenile Grade I winners in the U.S., France, and England.