Breeders' Cup Classic: Oisin Murphy on City Of Troy

Ryan Moore has a lot of experience now riding in these sort of races. It’s a pretty regular occurrence now that he rides in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

They think City Of Troy is the perfect horse for the race, they’ve had some time to prepare him and Aidan O'Brien seems quite confident that he couldn’t have him in better shape.

It’s brilliant there’s a big European contender in the Classic this year, he’s probably going to go off favourite too.

Of the rivals Fierceness has done absolutely nothing wrong. He was a very good two-year-old and has developed into an exceptional three-year-old. John Velazquez is an incredible rider but I like the Japanese horse, Forever Young, I think he’s had a very good prep for the race.

I know he was a bit dour last time, but Ryusei Sakai knows him like the back of his hand and trainer Yoshito Yahagi is a man who has conquered the world so far. It’s an open race and an exciting race, it deserves to be, it’s the one race that I don’t get to ride in very often that I really look forward to.

I do think City Of Troy can do it. He is a relentless galloper and if they go very fast I think he can finish off and if he can put himself onto the speed then I think it can be quite smooth for him.

The most important thing maybe in Ryan’s mind is to break well and get a good beginning then everything should be pretty straightforward after that.

They tend to be well spaced out after that. If he gets that good beginning he’ll have the speed to travel. The tempo he showed in the early part of his races as a two-year-old is what’s going to be required again.

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