Juddmonte International Stakes (Group 1)

ALL the superlatives came out on Wednesday as the much-vaunted City Of Troy (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) made all the running and broke the track record (with help from a favourable breeze) in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes.

The Derby winner broke well from stall five, with Moore in no mood to check his stride, taking him straight to the front from where he controlled the pace. He may have looked laboured in adding the Eclipse to his tally last month, but here City Of Troy was allowed to showcase his greatest strength, which is the ability to maintain a top-class sprinter’s speed well beyond normal limitations.

Moore set a fair pace in the early stages but kicked on a long way from home to press home his advantage, which immediately saw many of the chasing pack begin to struggle, but it was notable how well King Edward VII winner Calandagan (Francis-Henri Graffard) travelled in the rear of mid-division, and when Stéphane Pasquier asked him to quicken after straightening up, he made giant strides to pass rivals impressively and looked sure to throw down a big challenge to the leader.

Calandagan joined third-placed Ghostwriter (Richard Kingscote) just before the furlong pole, pulling three and a half lengths clear of that rival, so it’s to City Of Troy’s great credit that he maintained a lead of a length or more through the final furlong despite the runner-up’s notably strong closing sectional.

Track record

The track record needs to be taken into context given both the fast ground and the wind, but this looked a very deep race at declarations stage, so for the first two to pull over seven lengths clear of the reliable Bluestocking in fourth marks it up as an excellent renewal of the International and City Of Troy cannot be crabbed as he was at Sandown.

He has also beaten a most exciting prospect into second and the fact that the first three places have been filled by three-year-olds is both a justification for a Classic crop which was being condemned before the Derby, and a positive for the future, particularly for the gelded runner-up, who has the ability and character to become something of a cult. As for the winner, a stud career awaits next year, but he may well be the horse with the right attributes to take the Breeders’ Cup Classic that the Coolmore partners crave so much.

Aidan O’Brien has made no secret of the regard in which he holds City Of Troy, and he saw that fully justified here, so he was entitled to wear a huge smile as he said: “We’ve always felt he was very different. He loves to be on a strong pace, and he gets it really well. Everything he does…has me hoping maybe the lads might go to the Classic with him. It’s some dream.

“He’s the best I’ve ever trained; we always thought that when he was a two-year-old. We went off the road first run this year, we went right down into the swamp, so to get back to where he is today is incredible.”

THE Lion In Winter (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) started the day emphatically for the Ballydoyle powerhouse, running out an impressive winner of the Group 3 Acomb Stakes ahead of Wimbledon Hawkeye (James Owen/Silvestre de Sousa) and Ruling Court (Charlie Appleby/William Buick).

The first and third dominated the betting on the back of impressive debut wins and the first three pulled clear in what looked an exceptional renewal of the contest, from which previous qualification restrictions were lifted this year.

The Lion In Winter went off at 2/1 with the betting public preferring impressive Sandown winner Ruling Court, but the race saw O’Brien’s son of Sea The Stars track early leader The Waco Kid with Ruling Court waited with, and despite that colt running on well, the winner not only got first run from a good track position, but lowered York’s seven furlong track record in doing so.

The placed horses both ran on strongly, with Wimbledon Hawkeye holding second by half a length, but neither looked like getting to the winner, who scored by one and three-quarter lengths in the style of a top-class prospect.

Future favourite

The winner was installed as favourite for both the 2025 Guineas and Derby on the back of his impressive effort, and is certainly something to get excited about, with a mile likely to bring about further improvement this term given how hard he hit the line.

O’Brien said: “He won very well the last day, and everyone thought he was a very good horse. Wayne rode him and loved him. He’d been working very well, he’s always been a lovely straightforward, uncomplicated horse.

“We came here as we wanted to give him experience ahead of the Goffs Million as we felt it looked a lovely race for him.

“We thought it could be sharp enough for him, but he hit the gates well and Ryan had him in a lovely position, he didn’t even touch him with the stick, and he broke the track record, so obviously he’s a very smart colt.

“The Goffs Million was the target, and we have Henri Matisse going for the Futurity this weekend to split them up, but the lads will decide – they always do. He’s the only Sea The Stars we have; he’s very good looking which is why the lads bought him, and you’d have to like everything he’s doing at the moment.”

Great Voltigeur Stakes

(Group 2)

THE second leg of a Group-race treble for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore saw Irish Derby hero Los Angeles produce a workmanlike performance to withstand his main rivals in the Group 2 contest, a well-established St Leger trial. The winner, sent off the 5/4 favourite, was conceding 2lb to Queen’s Vase winner Illinois and 5lb to the other three runners under a penalty for his Curragh success.

With the pace set by outsider Euphoric, tracked by stablemate Illinois (Wayne Lordan), Moore sat third before asking Los Angeles to take command with a quarter of a mile to run.

From there he kept on dourly, allowing both King’s Gambit (Harry Charlton/William Buick) and Illinois to throw down challenges, but while hardly impressive on the eye, the son of Camelot dug deep when asked to fight, and prevailed by a neck and the same from Illinois, who re-passed King’s Gambit in the dying strides to claim a one-two for Ballydoyle.

Though this wasn’t a visually impressive performance, the task of conceding weight must be factored in, and the last two horses to carry a Group 1 penalty in the Voltigeur were Belmez and Reference Point, the former just beating subsequent St Leger winner Snurge at 4/9 and the latter winning at odds of 1/14 at York before adding the St Leger to his Derby and King George wins.

Considering options

Whether O’Brien relies on the winner or the runner-up in the St Leger remains open to debate, but the trainer seems to favour Illinois for that contest, saying: “The lads will make that decision, but the second horse obviously does stay very well and a mile and six is probably what he wants to be seen at his best whereas Ryan’s horse can do either.

“He could go up in trip, he has plenty of class, he was there with a penalty today and they didn’t go over-fast in the middle of the race so he can either go back for an Irish Champion Stakes and finish in the first four and go on to the Arc or he can go to the Leger with the others. It’s up to the lads to decide.

“He’s a massive, big, handsome, powerful horse. He’s very straightforward and he has options, it depends on what the lads want to do.”