AFTER organising a Ballydoyle press morning for the purpose of building up to the 2024 Irish Champions Festival, you could understand if there was some frustration on the organisers’ behalf when City Of Troy - who is not heading to next week’s two-day meeting - ended up hogging many of the headlines that followed.

Make no mistake, though, City Of Troy is the standout Irish horse of the 2024 season and ranks as Aidan O’Brien’s highest-profile Galáctico for some time. Whenever connections talk up his upcoming bid to break new ground on the dirt at Del Mar, that is something fully deserving of prominent, mainstream coverage. It is only a shame for those trying to drum up interest in the Leopardstown-Curragh weekend that he is Southwell-bound instead of heading to south Dublin.