Juddmonte International analysis: David Ord on City Of Troy's victory

Three Group races at York on Wednesday, three Group winners for Aidan O’Brien.

And when an unbeaten two-year-old taking the Acomb in such style that he tops the market for the 2024 Classics and an Irish Derby winner becoming the first colt to successfully shoulder a five-pound penalty in the Sky Get Great Voltigeur for 34 years aren’t your headline story, it’s no ordinary day.

This was the one when City of Troy won the Juddmonte International.

In doing so he displayed the brutal power that had characterised his unbeaten, champion two-year-old campaign.

It wasn’t a demolition job, the upwardly mobile Calandagan saw to that, producing the turn of foot that careered him clear in the King Edward VII at Royal Ascot on a sunnier, calmer, June afternoon.

But this time the hare was City Of Troy, a horse whose stride lengthened every time he heard his rival’s hooves. The white flag was finally raised 50 yards out.

The winner took nearly a second off Sea The Stars’ course record.

As he stood with his trophy on a packed podium afterwards the master of Ballydoyle puffed out his cheeks. Satisfaction? Relief? A brief moment when the guard was down and no microphones thrust under his nose. A chance to gather his thoughts.

Relentless, remorseless, this was pure power, a career-defining performance from the son of Justify six weeks on from a Coral-Eclipse victory that left everyone a little flat.

They roared him home and back again at York, applause again as he did a final lap of honour around the winners’ enclosure.

And as he ran his hand through his hair, his genius trainer just wondered if the best was in fact yet to come.

“That’s what he always did, when he gets into a tempo he’s always finishing, his last couple of furlongs are always his best furlongs. We had to redo a lot to get him to come back and do it right," he said.

“We had to get him to relax in his first two races before he got to do it. It’s coming back to him naturally today, a hard, strong, tempo is where we always feel he’s at his best.”

And that means America is calling, the Dirt surface at Del Mar and the Breeders’ Cup Classic which has eluded previous star raiders from County Tipperary. One of the very few glaring omissions currently on the CV.

“We always hoped and thought that’s what he could be - a Classic horse,” O’Brien said. “He loves a strong tempo, he fights, he cruises and always finishes very strong.”

And he’s quick too. It was an afternoon when the clock was broken on a couple of occasions and O’Brien, like his great Ballydoyle namesake before him, takes great credence in what the stopwatches say.

“Times don’t lie. Dr O’Brien always said all he wanted to know how fast a horse could go from A to B, that was always the defining thing for the top horses for him.”

On Wednesday City Of Troy did it faster than any horse has previously done at York. And there’s a certain irony too in him lowering the previous mark of Sea The Stars.

He’s the sire of The Lion In Winter, the new Classic favourite off the back of that Acomb win. He’s the only horse by the stallion trained at Ballydoyle right now; he just might be the most precocious two-year-old star he’s ever sired too.

Aidan is at pains to praise all around him in a moment of victory, stressing over and over again that his amazing success is a team effort.

From the breeding and buying prowess of Coolmore, the skills of the work riders and staff at his yard through to the brilliance of Ryan Moore in the saddle. It’s all there.

But to top the pyramid you need the trainer, someone with if not a Midas touch – then at the very least a sure one. He doesn’t make many mistakes – and when he does he quickly learns from them.

And again, when pressed two or three times, he reiterated the belief that City Of Troy is the best horse he’s ever trained.

“We thought that as a two-year-old, we always thought that. He is the most special horse we’ve ever had. We went off the road the first run this year and right into the swamp, but for him to come out of it and to get to where he is today is incredible," he smiled.

At the moment the Timeform numbers don’t quite match the claim.

Wednesday’s win took City Of Troy into the 130s – the barrier for a top-class horse with the firm. Hawk Wing, remember him? He got to 136 on one of his going days.

When the dust settles it’s likely for now that City Of Troy will still be three or four pounds short of him.

It didn’t feel that way at York on Wednesday. It felt like one of those Juddmonte International days that will live long in the memory, a race for the showreels for years to come.

And as he flew back to Ireland, O'Brien could dream again of breaking new ground in 2024, something that had seemed worlds away on the first Saturday in May.

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