City of Troy pays price for slow start in Breeders’ Cup Classic

In racing, as in life, it is always a good idea to have a Plan B. City Of Troy’s daring challenge for the Breeders’ Cup Classic here on Saturday was almost over before it had begun, but his Coolmore Stud syndicate owners were still smiling in the winner’s enclosure a few minutes later , after Chad Brown’s Sierra Leone, a colt from the American arm of the Coolmore operation, held off Fierceness by a length and a half.

There was always an air of ‘win or fail’ surrounding the bold decision to send City Of Troy to the Classic, and so it showed.

A slow break put him on the back foot from the start, and the serious action soon unfolded many lengths ahead of him, with Fierceness helping to set a furious pace at half-way. A quarter of a mile further the intensity was still there, but the strong gallop meant he had nothing left as Sierra Leone raced past at the top of the stretch.

Flavien Prat’s stallion held on strongly to win by one and a half lengths, while Forever Young, the great hope from Japan, finished in third place again. City Of Troy and Ryan Moore eventually crossed the line in eighth.

“He lost it at the start and I obviously didn’t prepare him to come out quick enough,” said City Of Troy trainer Aidan O’Brien. “We thought so, but that wasn’t the case. He missed it and basically left Ryan without a chance, the race was over at the start.

“He has been an incredible horse and it is so sporting for the boys [in the Coolmore syndicate] to give us a chance at this race. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have him and we look forward to having his foals.”

Ryan Moore said City Of Troy had “run a very courageous race”, adding: “He came to Del Mar in the Classic, in the previous two Classics [at the track] there were eight or nine runners and today there were fourteen and they went very, very fast. He received a lot of bribes, which he had not experienced, which was tough for him. I think he was very brave to persevere.”

Although the result of the Classic was an anticlimax for European racing fans after two months of preparation, the earlier races on artificial turf on the main card of the Breeders’ Cup provided more reason to celebrate.

European-trained horses won all three of Friday’s grass events and the run continued on Saturday when Ralph Beckett and Rossa Ryan added a win in the Breeders’ Cup with Starlust in the Turf Sprint to their success with Bluestocking in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe from last month. .

Ryan came up with a charmed run among the horses aboard Starlust, and while the stewards held an investigation after nudging Isivunguvungu and Manny Franco along the way, the result was allowed to stand.

“It was just one of those days,” Ryan said. “Luck was on our side, it opened so well.

“But anyway, by the time it opened, I was there and I had the horse.

“This horse has been knocking on the door all year long. It’s great to finally see him do it on the big stage. He’s been a bridesmaid. But brilliant, incredible performance.”

Rebel’s Romance, from Charlie Appleby’s Newmarket stable, added another win to the European total in the Turf, but there was a sad postscript to the race when Brian Meehan’s Jayarebe collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack while being pulled up.