We could see something very special at Newmarket from City Of Troy – the best since Frankel?
THERE are times in life where everything changes.
We’ve all had them at one stage or another, a moment which is nothing short of monumental.
Mine was a few months ago when I discovered you could talk to your phone and it would type text messages out for you. ‘Game changing’ doesn’t cut it.
But for City Of Troy, there is significantly more on the line at Newmarket this afternoon.
Not just the opening Classic of the season, but the first, important step in a season which could see him earn a place among the true immortals of this great game.
Such is the hype around this lad, nothing short of a blow-your-socks-off win in today’s Qipco 2,000 Guineas will do.
It’s one of those weird ones where the build-up has been so intense, the fanfare so fierce, if he scrapes home by half a length we are going to walk away feeling more than a little deflated.
I can’t help but drop an F-bomb, but it was the same with Frankel.
Every time we went to the races to see him we wanted to watch him pulverise his rivals by a dozen lengths.
We got a taste of blood when he slaughtered them in the Guineas 13 years ago and wanted it again and again after that.
Fair to say City Of Troy has got Aidan O’Brien singing like a canary and the Coolmore lads salivating over the fortunes he promises to rake in when he heads off to stud.
Mind you, we’ve been here before with Aidan. He’s the best trainer in the world but when it comes to picking out a proper superstar he’s sometimes more Judge Rinder than Judge Dredd.
Air Force Blue (didn’t win a race at three), Australia (good but not unbeatable) and Churchill (beaten on his last four starts) have all failed to live up to his ‘best we’ve ever had’ billing. And that’s just in the last decade.
But there is something freakish about Troy the boy. He isn’t the biggest, but he’s half a ton of pure muscle and more neatly put together than an IKEA flatpack.
And there can’t have been many horses to have made Ryan Moore — one of the strongest jockeys in the world — look as weak as a kitten.
This horse ran so powerfully through the line when winning on his debut at the Curragh that Moore was a split-second away from bailing out of the saddle to avoid smashing through a fence and onto a main road at the bottom of the track.
Thankfully, the horse decided to slam on the brakes in time, but he almost repeated the trick at Newmarket on his second start when hacking up in a Group 2.
Moore does not like to show emotion, but he was grinning like the Cheshire cat after that win.
“What happened to me on this horse’s debut has never happened before. I couldn’t stop him,” he revealed.
No wonder he was sent off the long odds-on jolly in the Dewhurst last October, where he strode confidently to victory to make it three out of three.
Michael Tabor, one of the original Coolmore lads, was telling anyone who would listen that ‘this is our Frankel’.
Talk about whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
We’ve had plenty of good ’uns since Frankel, of course. But this horse is a little different.
He could be a generational talent and he could, whisper it, even end up going for a Triple Crown.
Plenty of water needs to go under the bridge between now and September, of course.
But make no bones about it, today is a big, big day. One which could just change everything.
FREE BETS – GET THE BEST SIGN UP DEALS AND RACING OFFERS
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. 18+. T&Cs apply. Begambleaware.org
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chases their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
- Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
- Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org