Southwell is gearing up to welcome City Of Troy’s legions of fans after confirming the public will be able to attend the Derby winner’s racecourse gallop later this month.
Aidan O’Brien had long mooted a trip to the Nottinghamshire track to test his Breeders’ Cup Classic aspirant on a synthetic surface before the anticipated climax of his career at Del Mar.
The impressive Juddmonte International Stakes winner will enjoy an away day to the Rolleston venue on September 20, where O’Brien hopes to replicate conditions his Group One star will face in California.
American starting stalls and a crack team of stablemates will join City Of Troy at Southwell as he is put through his paces ahead of his trans-Atlantic assignment, with Ballydoyle also suggesting they would be happy for the racing public to come along and witness what could be the Justify colt’s final action on UK soil.
Mark Clayton, executive director at Southwell, has now confirmed the racecourse is planning on opening the gates for the masses, who will need to register for a free ticket to the event once arrangements for the gallop have been finalised.
He said: “We have decided that on September 20, everybody will be welcome to come and watch City Of Troy.
“We haven’t got the times yet of when he will gallop, but once we have that, we will release a statement with the relevant information.
“All of the public are welcome for free, they will just need to pre-register on our website.
“That is not live yet and until that is confirmed, we won’t be accepting bookings, but we are expecting arrangements to be confirmed ASAP, then it will go live on our website. We will look after everybody and what an occasion it will be for us.”
It will not be the first time O’Brien has brought a member of his all-conquering string to Southwell, with the likes of Galileo and Giant’s Causeway both taking in a lap of the course ahead of their American endeavours.
The once Fibresand surface is now a Tapeta all-weather track, but Southwell is thrilled to maintain its reputation as the ‘go-to’ place for Breeders’ Cup preparations and executives are hoping to lure Big Evs back there, as Mick Appleby’s star sprinter also points towards California this autumn.
The son of Blue Point graced the course with his presence prior to winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint 12 months ago and similar to City Of Troy, is also slated to end his racing career in the San Diego suburbs.
Clayton continued: “Who knows, it could be the last time we see City Of Troy on these shores and he’s going off to try to do something special.
“Aidan O’Brien coming to Southwell is quite a unique experience and it only happens maybe once a decade, so it will be nice to make something of it.
“We’re also hoping to entice Big Evs back to do a gallop before the Breeders’ Cup like he did last year. Mick has mooted it to me but it is still to be confirmed.
“If we can begin to be used for that sort of thing, then it can only help the course’s profile. We know it’s not the exact surface (as the dirt in America), but the layout of the course as a one-mile-two-furlong flat oval is wonderful if trying to replicate an American track.”
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