Coral-Eclipse preview: David Ord on the dangers to City Of Troy in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse

So City Of Troy could face a maximum of ten rivals in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse, seven of which are enemies, trained outside the boundaries of Ballydoyle.

On Monday his trainer Aidan O’Brien told Matt Chapman in The Sun that Luxembourg and/or Hans Anderson would join the Betfred Derby hero in Esher. And that’s a pretty crucial caveat.

If it turns into an 'and' then the master trainer has a serious second string to his bow.

Luxembourg is a teak-tough, world traveller who might have had the run of the race in the Coronation Cup but still produced a high-class performance to win it. He’s the sort of horse who would be a solid O’Brien first string if his stablemate wasn’t in here.

Then there’s White Birch. He looks the main danger, as the market tells you.

He's returned an improved model in 2024, winning three times at the Curragh, and the way he dismantled Auguste Rodin in the Tattersalls Gold Cup marked him out as a colt who was going to be a major force in races like... well, the Coral-Eclipse.

The question is how ground dependant is he? His progress this term has all been on surfaces softer than good and he recorded a meaty 133+ Timeform performance rating on good to soft going with that defeat of last year’s Derby hero.

The runner-up franked the form too, aided and abetted by quicker ground and a positive ride, in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes next time, but as a guide White Birch ran to 121 in last year’s Derby and 119 in the Dante when presented with lively surfaces.

They’re watering at Sandown and the ground at the time of writing is good to firm, good in places with little appreciable rain in the forecast at this stage.

That wouldn't be good news for Al Riffa either, for all he has a bit to find even if the heavens do unexpectedly open, while Stay Alert failed to fire in the Pretty Polly on Saturday. It would be some turnaround to see her run the biggest race of her carer just seven days on.

So what about the rival three-year-olds then? Well for starters, they’re not A-listers.

There’s definitely a chance this is Dancing Gemini’s trip – but it might be City Of Troy’s too and the French 2000 Guineas second has eight lengths to find with his rival on their Derby running.

The ground is what the connections of Ghostwriter hope will spark the improvement. He was fourth in both the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and French Derby this season, not picking up as looked likely at one stage in deep going at Chantilly last time.

He’s talented and the Newmarket evidence pointed to ten furlongs being his optimum distance for now, but Jayarebe arguably achieved more when winning the Hampton Court at Royal Ascot.

This is a bit of a Hail Mary, connections leaving it late before deciding to confirm him at the six-day stage and they are seemingly in no rush to commit to definitely running

He needs City Of Troy to underperform by ten pounds – or find that sort of improvement himself – if he’s to win this, but at least he arrives here at the top of his game.

The final entry is See The Fire who came forward nicely from the 1000 Guineas to finish fifth in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. She looks to be crying out for a mile-and-a-quarter but there are more winnable opportunities around the corner for her.

So there you have it. There are two obvious dangers to City Of Troy at Sandown with question marks over both.

Will White Birch turn up and, if he does, deliver the sort of performance that left Auguste Rodin chasing his shadow on very different ground on Saturday? And when Aidan said and/or regarding Luxembourg and Hans Anderson, did he really mean it?

In the Derby he wanted to have the race boxed off at both ends of the field with Los Angeles and City Of Troy. Maybe this will be just another extension of that policy.

Or maybe he really just meant 'or'. And if he did, the favourite’s task would start to look altogether more straightforward.

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