Both horses had been here before. At first, it seemed like just another brawl, in another alley, in another town. Tiznow and Giant’s Causeway thrived on bare-knuckle street fights, and because of this lust for battle, their reputations preceded them as they strutted into Louisville, Kentucky for the 17th Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Sneak up from behind and hit them on the head if you have to, but do not under any circumstances look them in the eye. In this skirmish, however, things were different. When Tiznow and Giant’s Causeway looked into each other’s eyes, they saw something they’d never seen before: a fire that matched their own.
– Steve Haskin, Blood Horse - November 8th 2000
WHEN Giant’s Causeway went down fighting to Tiznow in a Breeders’ Cup Classic that truly lived up to its title in 2000, Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore partners nearly scaled one of the highest mountains in world racing at their very first attempt.
Winning America’s most famous open-company race on the dirt - with a turf horse - has long been some of the most sought-after, rarified air for the Co Tipperary camp to chase. It highlights the magnitude of the task that they have never managed to better Giant’s Causeway’s finishing position in 15 subsequent attempts.
It’s not as though the global giants haven’t fired some of their most potent darts at the board across the past 24 years. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Try names on for size like Galileo (6th in 2001), Hawk Wing (7th in 2002), George Washington (6th in 2006 and pulled up in 2007), Henrythenavigator (2nd in 2008), Duke Of Marmalade (9th in 2008), Rip Van Winkle (10th in 2009), So You Think (6th in 2011), Declaration Of War (3rd in 2013), Gleneagles (8th in 2015), Churchill (7th in 2017) and Mendelssohn (5th in 2018). Coolmore’s ambition to plunder the $7 million prize with a turf campaigner is palpable.
With a fortnight to go ahead of the 2024 renewal, O’Brien believes his latest Classic candidate might just be his best-equipped challenger for some time. Bookmakers reckon the same.
None of the major European firms are willing to lay any bigger than 15/8 about City Of Troy reaching the promised land at Del Mar on November 2nd, and some firms are only willing to go as big as 6/4. Few chances are being taken with him.
It’s certainly unusual that a European contender has such market prominence for a major US dirt contest, but, to listen to O’Brien, that hardly should come as a surprise given the son of Justify has been doing unusual things right from the start of his career at Ballydoyle.
“He was very highly-rated when coming here as an individual,” says O’Brien, referring to Coolmore’s grading system for young stock.
Early impressions
“I think he was rated an eight, and that’s a very high rating, kind of as high as they get. Usually it’s difficult to live up to those ratings but he did, in every way. From the minute he started working, he was different. He kept standing up to it all the way.”
Does O’Brien’s first impression of a horse tend to change much over time, or does it typically hold true?
“Horses do surprise you,” he says. “That’s the nature of them, but usually your first impression is fairly close to the mark. The lads [at Coolmore] had him rated as highly as he was when first coming here.”
In other circumstances, the prospect of sending one of the most valuable turf horses in the world across the Atlantic for a bold experiment on the dirt could feel like an unnecessary risk. After all, even the legendary Frankel never raced outside of Britain across his three racing seasons and connections of Sea The Stars, who so ambitiously campaigned him throughout Europe as a three-year-old, resisted calls for a Breeders’ Cup Classic tilt too.
The idea of City Of Troy tackling this particular Grade 1 certainly wasn’t born overnight, however. Far from it.
“Oh not at all - all the way through it was kind of possible because of the fact he’s by Justify,” O’Brien explains.
“His campaign was almost mapped out from a very early stage. Obviously, the wheels fell off the wagon on his first run this season in the Guineas [never figuring as the 4/6 favourite], so then everyone had to be very gentle and patient with him, to get him back on the road. We were coaxing him back out without firing him onto the road, risking that he’d go to the other side of it.
“Very few horses will win a Derby while being schooled, but that’s what Ryan did on him. He took his time on him - a horse who was never dropped in before - and he never saw a thing until a furlong from home.”
Possible improvement
After getting back on the road in some style in the Betfred Derby, Europe’s champion two-year-old of 2023 then showed he could get down and dirty when needed in the Coral-Eclipse, even if the victory didn’t deliver the same ‘wow’ factor as his Epsom heroics.
A scintillating Juddmonte International success at York - breaking the track record in the process - might have felt like the culmination of City Of Troy putting all his talents together, but O’Brien doesn’t necessarily see it that way.
“That was on the way for him,” he explains. “In the Juddmonte, he was kind of 75% or 80% of the way of what we were hoping to get him to at the Breeders’ Cup. All of his runs after the Guineas were stepping stones to get back to the Breeders’ Cup.”
The potential for another significant leap forward from the four-time Group 1 scorer is quite the frightening prospect.
“Now, when he goes to America,” O’Brien continues, “he has to cope with a lot of stuff that he never would have had to deal with before. We won’t see how he’ll cope until the day. All of his work will be done before he goes.”
On City Of Troy’s deeply exciting sire, O’Brien adds: “Justify has been very exciting all the way. That [dirt and turf potential] is why everyone was so excited about him, why the boss [John Magnier] was so excited to be able to buy him. He’s probably one of the best horses ever to race in America. He only raced at three, was unbeaten and won the Triple Crown. Everything he did, he shouldn’t have been able to do.”
It’s been noticeable at times this summer how the Coolmore and Ballydoyle operations have been content to allow access to workouts involving some of their ‘A’ listers that otherwise might be kept behind closed doors.
Before his remarkable revival at Epsom, Coolmore’s social media accounts shared footage of the 3/1 favourite readily brushing aside a work companion at Ballydoyle, and similar was circulated before his Sandown victory.
Southwell crowds
Likewise, when the superbly-bred colt then headed to Southwell to sample the Tapeta surface, which is often used by European horses before an international assignment on dirt, the doors were flung wide open to the public. A total of 1,400 people registered to attend the workout.
“I don’t know how many exactly came to Southwell, but it was a big crowd - you’d hardly get it at some meetings in the middle of the week,” says O’Brien.
“It was a lot of very genuine people and fans there, really. They appreciate getting the information, seeing what was happening, what we were thinking. We kind of treated Southwell as a run and have gradually started to build him up again.”
Is there any extra pressure that comes with opening up private engagements to social media?
“Not really. Some people seem to like it, some people don’t. Cynical people don’t - cynical people will be cynical people, and that’s the way they are. That’s life. Some people are very happy about it, and are genuine about seeing it. The cynics will never accept what they see anyway - that’s life. It doesn’t bother us. There’s no point in trying to change those people.”
Those ‘cynics’ were out in force in the aftermath of City Of Troy’s Newmarket flop to kick off this season. He has more than proven that he’s big enough for senior, top-level tasks since, but surely the questions that followed about the colt’s size must have frustrated his record-breaking trainer at the time?
“No, not really,” comes the response.
“It was just a matter of pointing out to people what he was [in terms of size], but there you go - cynical people again. That’s the way it is. You do your best, say what you think and let people make whatever they want of it. We don’t even think about that, really.”
In the announcement last weekend that City Of Troy will retire to Coolmore Stud in Fethard following his Californian swansong, O’Brien led the tributes and hailed him as “definitely the best we’ve ever trained, no doubt about it”.
The point was raised since by Racing TV’s Lydia Hislop in an interview with the Ballydoyle handler that Timeform has rated 19 O’Brien-trained horses higher than his current stable star. Despite those metrics, the 26-time champion trainer is firm on the extremely high regard he holds City Of Troy in.
“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” says O’Brien.
“Some people are very positive and see the glass half full, some see it half empty all the time. That’s the way life is. What this horse did for us at two was different, and this year has been different too.
Bouncebackability
“For the wheels to totally come off on his first run of the season, then to pitch him into a Derby - how many horses could you do that with? He’d never run around a bend, never went that far, never handled that type of track and I still think he was sent off favourite on the day.”
O’Brien has plundered many of the world’s marquee international races but, like the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Melbourne Cup is one that has managed to evade him thus far. Similar to the scenario at Del Mar, layers reckon he has one of his best chances for some time with the unbeaten Jan Brueghel.
Fresh from beating subsequent Group 2-winning stablemate Illinois in the St Leger at Doncaster, the Galileo three-year-old is the general 5/1 favourite to create a slice of Ballydoyle history down under.
“Ryan will ride him and I think he’ll be running off 8st 7lb; that’s as light as Ryan [Moore] would do,” notes O’Brien.
“This horse stays, seems to handle nice ground usually and has been progressive. It’ll be interesting. He’s only a three-year-old. Kieran [Murphy] and Dean [Gallagher] have gone down there with him and they seem happy so far,”
On the ever-improving Moore, he adds: “Ryan is very experienced and has travelled the world for a long time. I think that’s what he likes doing, what makes him tick - the big races on the big days. We’re lucky that he rides for us.
“He’s very fit and works very hard. He’s extremely thorough and professional, motivated, self-critical, very genuine. That’s the way he is, it’s what makes him as good as he is. He’s a great fella.”
O’Brien, who turned 55 on Wednesday, has been vocal in his concerns surrounding the level of stringent veterinary checks in place for overseas runners to compete in the Melbourne Cup. The international impact on the race is undeniable, though.
Before the latest entry stage, leaving aside the four possible runners trained in Britain or Ireland, there were 69 other horses in contention.
A total of 42 were previously trained in Europe (61%), including 17 previously trained in Ireland (25%) - 11 of which spent time under the tutelage of either Aidan or Joseph O’Brien.
To go a step further, of the entire entries at that stage, 26 horses were bred in Ireland and 18 were sired by horses who have stood at Coolmore in Ireland.
Classic influences
The fact Ireland is producing flat horses with stamina for middle-distance trips and beyond will be pleasing to many, given the wider concerns over cheap-speed influences in recent times.
“I think in breeding, everything is going back to the classic horse,” says O’Brien.
“The short sprinters are probably not as fashionable as they were, that’s changing back again everywhere; from Hong Kong to Europe. In the last couple of years, [the classic horse] has come back very strong.
“The classics are how the thoroughbred breed is measured. You have to get out and compete at a very high level, very early. There has to be a yardstick and that has always been it.”
Those classic types were in high demand at the opening books of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sales in the last fortnight. While not being his primary role by any means, O’Brien attends the sales to inspect a shortlist of yearlings at the major sales (“I just go through the list that the lads have, give my comment and that’s it, the lads work it out”).
What advice does the legendary horseman have for young people learning their trade in inspecting horses at the sales?
“You either like a horse or you don’t once you see them,” says O’Brien.
“A horse who moves well is obviously what you like, and good balance. It’s like a person, most athletes have good balance, don’t they? That’s how it is with horses. You’ll see balance in two steps - they have it or they don’t. If they don’t have it, you can’t make water run up a hill.”
He adds: “With everything that everyone does every day, you’re learning. All the time. There’s no law to it. Experience is a big thing, but you have to be open-minded to learning and not set in your ways. You have to be prepared to change.”
With 19 Group 1/Grade 1 wins on the scoresheet already this season, and his highest domestic strike rate in 20 years, whatever adaptations O’Brien is making in his 32nd season with a licence are clearly working just fine.
Breeding success
It has also been a fruitful campaign with the graduates of he and wife Annemarie’s Whisperview Trading bloodstock operation.
Porta Fortuna, expertly trained by Donnacha O’Brien (and also bound for the Breeders’ Cup), has rattled off a Group 1 hat-trick in 2024 so far, while there have also been notable results with the likes of Heavens Gate (winner of valuable Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes and Group 3 Weld Park Stakes), Expanded (runner-up in last week’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes) and Tennessee Stud (close second in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes).
“Ana handles all our part of it and she’s bred a lot of very good horses this year,” says O’Brien. “Between Ana, Joseph, Donnacha and Sarah, they work it out between them. That’s their baby now.”
Three decades in any role takes immense commitment, let alone training racehorses in one of the most competitive jurisdictions in the world. Pressure is constant.
To compare another sporting example from earlier this year, after a single decade at the helm of Liverpool Football Club, Jürgen Klopp announced he would depart football management and cited the belief he was “running out of energy”.
Even though Klopp has this month agreed to become Red Bull’s new Head of Global Football, a less stringent role, can O’Brien empathise with the German’s previous working dynamic?
“I 100% understood where he was coming from all the time, because we’re constantly judged by our results. That is the reality. All you can do is your best, and if you’re doing your best every day, you just accept what comes.
“It’s a very open shop here for everybody, and all the information flows very easily, quickly and naturally from one to the other. Everyone is in the loop all the time. We talk about what happens and see where things went wrong. If I had anything to do with the wrong decision, I have no problem saying it. On you go.”
Where does that energy come from?
“We do our best every day, every minute. As long as we can do that, we will. It’s easier to accept defeat when you do that because you can’t have done any more. But it’s still no guarantee for success by any means.
“I suppose we’re in a different stage of life now that all our lads have grown up and are all doing their own things. We have more time now than we had before; the four or five hours in the evening where we used to spend with the lads, we have that to spare now and can give that to doing our job. It’s extra time we can give the job that we couldn’t give maybe 10 years ago.
“It’s good also because we can call on them for information or advice - and they tell us what’s going on in the outside world, if there’s anything different we could do. They have no problem pulling us up on things and saying that we should be doing this or that. We appreciate that. We have the time that we didn’t have before. They’re a big help to us.”
He adds: “We’re in a situation where the lads [Coolmore team] are producing the most unbelievable horses, day in, day out, and if they’re not breeding them, they’re trying to buy them. The quality and level of professionalism, the team of people they have together is incredible. Between Coolmore and Ballydoyle, it’s mind-blowing. It works in perfect harmony, which is unusual for an organisation this big.”
Racing’s impact
If there is an area where O’Brien’s energy and passion is readily detectable, it’s when the conversation turns to the impact that racing can have on the lives of others.
“This is the one sport in the world that will last a person a lifetime, from when they’re very small to when they take their last breath,” he enthuses. “They can think about it, have an opinion on it, talk about it to others, enjoy it with their family, meet other people. For someone lucky enough to own a horse, I don’t know of any drug in the world that can give them that same rush of adrenaline that comes from being involved. It makes people feel good for a long time, and it’s natural. Everyone knows your mind is stronger than your body, so what that will do for a person’s body and the people around them, it brings people together.
“We try to give out as much information and time as we can to communicate to everyone the full facts about what we’re doing. Anyone who doesn’t believe it, or is naturally cynically-minded, you won’t change their mind anyway. That’s their natural way of thinking about stuff. Then there’s people who love it; like the people at Southwell. There were so many young people and old people. Since Southwell, so many people have written to us too.”
In one sense, these are precarious times for followers of the sport in Ireland, with the new Gambling Bill, which successfully passed through the Oireachtas on Wednesday, understood to threaten the viability of Racing TV’s operations in Ireland.
“There are so many people at home, sometimes retired people, who watch the racing and follow all the interviews that go with the sport - I think it makes such a difference to people’s lives,” O’Brien continues. “It carries them all the way through and they can share that love for racing with their children or grandchildren. It’s so important.
“There’s no pressure for anyone to have a bet if they don’t want to. They can if they feel they’d like to. In terms of betting and addictions, some people will have naturally addictive personalities and get addicted to different things in life. That will happen whether they’re having a bet or doing something else. You just have to be careful; you help them to get through it.
“It’s part of all our makeups, we all have different things to deal with. That’s why there are supports in place for the people who need them. In some ways, it’s almost like if someone can’t have a drink, maybe they won’t go to the pub or they’ll try not to have drink in the house that might tempt them.
“People have to think for others in the world, but there is a real feel-good factor from racing that they can’t get anywhere else. You see at some of the tracks in Japan and Hong Kong that these places don’t even seem big enough for the crowds that want to come racing. People are literally running in the gate because that’s what they get their buzz out of, waiting for the racing to start after a week’s work. There’s genuine excitement.
“That natural adrenaline is what people need to stop other things in life from getting on top of them. It can keep people in good form mentally, and those things push out the negatives in life. It’s not fair to stop people from having a bet. For the people sitting at home who are having their few pounds on a horse, just like has been the case right down through the years with people marking their newspapers and heading to the bookies’ offices, it fills up their minds with a lot of thought that isn’t negative. Maybe I’m wrong, but we need to be a bit balanced about it.”
Balance is something that City Of Troy has never been in short supply of. In your heart of hearts, Aidan, how do you think he will handle the dirt?
“We don’t know, really, but we think he’ll be fine on it,” comes the response.
“He’s a great mover, gets over the ground easily. He’s got tactical speed, great class, a great cruise. At the end of the day, it’s about ability too.”
With a fortnight to go, the American dream is alive with City Of Troy. The mountain top is in sight again for one of the most formidable teams in the world.
Juvenile Turf Henri Matisse
Juvenile Fillies Turf Lake Victoria
Juvenile Turf Sprint Whistlejacket
Mile Diego Velazquez
Filly & Mare Turf Content and Ylang Ylang
Turf Luxembourg
Classic City Of Troy