Aidan O’Brien was left looking for answers after a desperately disappointing run from City Of Troy in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas.
The well-backed 4/6 favourite was calm in the preliminaries but was a shadow of his two-year-old self in the race itself, off the bridle early and trailing home in ninth.
Inserted into the stalls last, Ryan Moore felt he was unhappy in the starting gates but his trainer wants to get him back to Ballydoyle and checked out after the underwhelming run.
He said: “He got upset in the stalls, Ryan said that was very unusual for him. He was very happy beforehand. There’s no about that [it was too bad to be true].
“We wouldn’t have been here if we thought he was going to do that. We just have to see why that happened. We’ll get him home and see.
“That’s the way it is, we’ll try and find out why and try not to let it happen again. Sorry about that, everyone.”
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O’Brien’s Auguste Rodin was a disappointing 12th in last year’s Guineas but bounced back to win the Derby at Epsom and a step up in trip looks likely to be on the table for City Of Troy now.
The son of Justify is out to 7/1 with Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair for the Derby on June 1.
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