Aidan O’Brien hails City Of Troy ‘best’ Derby winner after landing 10th victory

Aidan O’Brien confounded the sceptics again to secure his 10th victory in the Betfred Derby at Epsom.

City Of Troy had carried all before him as a two-year-old, winning in such impressive style that his Coolmore connections voiced a hope he could become ‘our Frankel’.

Those expectations were shattered when he suffered a surprise defeat in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket where he trailed in ninth of 11 as the 4-6 favourite.

With no visible reason for the performance, pundits began to question whether the colt had trained on and whether he had the size to become a top level three-year-old.

Even after O’Brien shouldered the blame, arguing that City Of Troy had become upset in the stalls and he had not prepared City Of Troy properly for his first mission of the year, there were many still unconvinced.

The master trainer would have to pull off a bigger miracle than he managed 12 months earlier with Auguste Rodin, who won the Derby after flopping in the 2,000 Guineas, was the overriding narrative.

Yet he did it as City Of Troy, ridden by Ryan Moore, found a path along the inside rail to emerge behind the loose running Voyage, who lost jockey Pat Dobbs exiting the stalls, and then gallop to a two and three quarter length victory from Ambiente Friendly with O’Brien’s Los Angeles in third.

Moore said: “Aidan never lost faith in him. We stuck to the plan and it’s come off again.

“Sometimes those phrases like ‘hasn’t trained on’ are thrown out there with no real understanding of what they mean.

“Newmarket didn’t go right. We got a few things wrong on the day and maybe in the lead up to the race and we put them right.

“To be honest he never had a moment’s doubt. I just had to pick a path and once I was in the clear, he took the race very easy. I had the race won a fair way out. He is a very special horse and a very important horse.”

He added: “Aidan’s been breaking records for so long now he is incredible. There is no one like him. It’s more than being a genius, an attention to detail and dedication. Everyone works hard in this game but I’ve never known anyone that works harder than him.”

O’Brien, whose winners include the great Galileo, has now won the Derby in four of the last six years but had no doubt City Of Troy is the best of them.

“I left him a little bit too fresh for the Guineas and he went into the stalls and he exploded,” he said. “It was the one stone that we never looked under. He was always so straightforward and we never expected that to happen.

“He just went in and he charged the stalls. His heart rate went too high and that’s why he only got to halfway and that was the end. It took two and a half weeks before we could put him into the stalls again.

“The lads worked on him and the last day he went into the stalls he was calm as anything.”

He added: “Everyone had their opinions. He had a lot to lose by running but I am so delighted he did what he did.”