So in the end the hype was justified – pun intended.
City of Troy, son of the American triple crown winner and dirt champion Justify, wiped away the memory of his dismal failure in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and blew away 15 rivals at Epsom to land the Derby in scintillating style under Ryan Moore, sparking continuous debate on just how good he is and where he might next appear.
The colt’s three length win gave master trainer Aidan O’Brien his 10th Derby success – a record, need you ask – and the debate over his future programme has been resolved: now he has to take another step forward and beat his elders when he starts in the Eclipse Stakes in early July.
City of Troy’s efforts there – and any results in which three year olds take on their elders at Royal Ascot next week – will give the first indication of the strength in depth of this year’s Classic crop.
It is always difficult to know just how strong a Derby field is until a few months, perhaps even a season, after the race is run.
But with the second and third favourites Ambiente Friendly and Las Vegas occupying the minor places the race went in line with the form book – usually an indication that it was a fair result with the best horses coming to the fore.
It was a similar story with the Guineas in the first week of May. Pre – race, when all the buzz was about the then unbeaten City of Troy and how far he would win by, there was debate about how strong his opposition was.
That intensified after Godolphin’s Notable Speech, who never ran at two and had hitherto only competed in three starts on the All Weather (not the usual venue for Guineas aspirants) blew the field away with the O’Brien hotpot falling out of the back of the television.
That form now looks to be rock solid, and not just because of City of Troy’s remarkable rehabilitation.
The second and third home at Newmarket, Rousalion and Haatem, gave trainer Richard Hannon a quinella in the Irish 2000 Guineas when stepping out four weeks later, indicating that perhaps the top line three year olds this year might be gallopers to go to war with.
Notable Speech and Rosalion look to be nailed on for the miling division and will likely meet at Royal Ascot in the St James Palace Stakes while Haatem could be aimed at the 1400 metre Jersey Stakes.
The trio can be expected to take on their elders in top mile events, perhaps beginning with Goodwood’s Sussex Stakes, later in the season.
But it is City of Troy’s trajectory that is fascinating.
For much of the winter the noises coming out of Ballydoyle – discounting the usual marketing speak about this colt being the best Aidan has ever trained – suggested that he could be aimed at the Travers Stakes on dirt in the USA in late August.
That would certainly be a first for an Epsom hero and there was a commercial logic behind the plan, given that Justify is a top dirt horse and it would do his reputation no end of good if his best European son to date proved not just to be a top liner on turf but on the surface that his sire excelled on.
But with Coolmore now likely to rely on Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes placegetter Sierra Leone in the Travers, all European eyes will now be on City of Troy’s next appearance at Sandown, near London, in early July.
The Eclipse will necessitate a drop in trip to 2000 metres, although City of Troy possesses such a handy turn of foot that would surely be no obstacle
The Arc at season’s end -a race that O’Brien has only won twice, with Found and Dylan Thomas – would be a fitting end of season finale for City of Troy were he to stay in Europe to be campaigned, although O’Brien earlier in the week indicated that after the Eclipse his star colt would likely go to either York for the International in August or be kept for Irish Champions weekend in early September.
Those contests would be a prelude to a transatlantic trip, with the master trainer eyeing off a tilt at the Breeders Cup meeting.
It is a mouth watering prospect, and the one thing that we know about O’Brien and the Coolmore operation is that they are not afraid to tilt at windmills and run their top horses frequently and against high class opposition, all of which bodes well for world racing fans hoping to see more of this superstar over the next few months.