Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners are "back dreaming again" with City Of Troy ahead of the Betfred Derby.
The Justify colt has reclaimed his position at the head of the betting for the Classic, despite running a most lacklustre race in the 2000 Guineas on his first start at three.
O’Brien has raised several theories for his eclipse at Newmarket, but his faith in last year’s champion juvenile has never remotely wavered.
"Everything has been good since and we just accepted that all these things just happened and went wrong on the day and we’ve decided to stay with the plan. He’s done nothing since to make us change the plan. The plan was always to start with the Guineas and go on to the Derby and then go wherever after that and that’s where we still are," he said.
"Sometimes it happens and obviously it happened in the Guineas and it happened again last weekend (in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains with Henry Longfellow). Sometimes things don’t work and really I would always say that it’s my responsibility to make sure it works and when it doesn’t work, well we’ve done our homework but maybe we didn’t do it all properly. That’s the way I would look at the Guineas.
"When he went down to the start he should have been relaxed, but he went into the stalls and he was revved up. He wasn’t flustered, but obviously his mind wasn’t in the right place, because he’s a very good natured horse as you can see – unusually good for a colt. He’s very calm and relaxed, but it all just happened at the wrong few seconds.
"It will make it very interesting the next day. For us, I’m not sure we’ve ever sent a horse to the Derby with as much ability as this. If we can get him to come out of those gates and everything to work properly for him then we can have him in the right place."
By an American Triple Crown winner and out of a Galileo mare, what City Of Troy did over seven furlongs last year caught many by surprise. Usually you would be expecting him to improve for stepping up in trip and O’Brien seems to have no question marks over his stamina.
City Of Troy is beaten! 😮
— Newmarket Racecourse (@NewmarketRace) May 4, 2024
Notable Speech maintains his unbeaten record winning the QIPCO 2000 Guineas 💥 pic.twitter.com/2IxU6BpIxj
"I don’t think so. I don’t think I ever did [doubt his stamina]. I never thought any trip was a problem for him. You’re never sure until you do it, but he has a big, long stride and he’s usually very chilled and relaxed. But it will be a very interesting race now," said O’Brien.
"I suppose what he did last year – everything he was doing last year, the statistics were adding up. His times, everything. He never disappointed us in any way.
"But we all know horse racing and we all know life – no one knows what’s going to happen in the next half hour. Listen, the Guineas just wasn’t meant to be. I feel like, myself, I hadn’t got him prepared properly, so what we would have learned in the Guineas will hopefully help us to prepare him properly for the Derby.
"He’s obviously by Justify, who was an unbeaten Triple Crown winner, and out of a Group One-winning Galileo mare, so one thing you cannot stop coming out in anything is pedigree and his is as blue as it gets, so hopefully he’s well and we can have him in the right place."
Last year, Auguste Rodin disappointed badly in the Guineas before winning the Derby. But O’Brien sees the situations as different.
"The circumstances there were that he [Auguste Rodin] came out of the gates at Newmarket and he got sandwiched both sides and it was over straight away, because here was a horse running in the Guineas that we knew was way short of his best so you know when you’re running in a race everything has to fall for you for it to happen and it just didn’t fall for him either," said O’Brien.
"It was a bit like that this year with this horse [City Of Troy], nothing fell right and it all went against us, but we probably always knew that even though he’d won a Dewhurst and he’d only run over seven furlongs, we always knew he was going to be a middle-distance horse."
City Of Troy is likely to be joined by a stablemate or two at Epsom, although which ones are still to be decided. In Los Angeles, though, an unbeaten Group One winner of Ireland’s best Derby trial, he has a high-quality contender in his own right.
O’Brien said: "I loved the way Los Angeles won at Leopardstown and the beauty about him is that he’s a horse who we’ve always thought can only get better the further he goes. So the fact he has already won a Group One in France and Ireland’s best Derby trial can only bode well.
"Illinois came forward a good bit from the Ballysax, but it looks very much like he met a good horse [Ambiente Friendly] at Lingfield. He didn’t look in love with the track, but other than not winning I was very happy with him.
"We thought Capulet had a very good chance of reversing the form from Chelmsford [at Chester] with the winner and that’s what happened. He came forward a good bit from that run and is a very straightforward type. We’ve had plenty of interest from Hong Kong for him, but he could still go to Epsom at this stage."
Asked about Diego Velazquez, O’Brien confirmed the Prix du Jockey Club remains his most likely destination following his fine run to be fourth in Sunday's Poulains.
Watch racing from Naas this Sunday, with the Royal Ascot Trials day live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player from 1.40pm.
