How great Was Troy?
stamina
- #1An all-time great
- #2A very good horse
- Best 10 middle distance horses from Britain
- Better than Grundy
- Better than Generous
- Better than Sir Ivor
- Epsom Derby win amongst 5 best ever
- Better than Alleged
- This topic has 6 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 11 months ago by
.
- Posts
Today the racing world commemorates the 40th death anniversary of the superstar Troy. Childhood memories are permanently embedded in my mind of his feats in 1979.Few colts looked as majestic when hitting the front as this colt, schooled by Dick Hern.Sadly Troy perished prematurely on May 11th at Highclere stud ,suffering from acute peritonitus hardly getting time to do justice to producing his progeny.Troy’s own breeding was unique blend of champion miler Petingo and an out and out stayer La Milo.Inspite of such curtailed stint of 4 seasons, Troy proved outstanding as a sire.
Although giving flashes of class, as a two year old and early season races in 1979, Troy hardly displayed his true potential, unlike many other greats.
In my view Troy’s 1979 Epsom Derby win was comparable with that of the very best like Sea Bird, Shergar and Sir Ivor.I simply can never forget the manner Troy literally swooped on his rivals , making them look like selling plates or a butch of daisies mowed down. At Tattenham Corner he lay close to the bottom of the field and defeat looked a foregone conclusion. Rarely has a colt in few strides accelerated in such a majestic or electrifying manner ,in the manner of lightning coming from no man’s land. One was reminded of an army coming out of an ambush performing a combing operation. After passing the runner up Dicken’s Hill Troy simply left his opponents standing.-similar to a 360 degree twist in a Shakespeare play.Timeform classed it as the best performance in the Derby since Sea Bird. Few performances in he 1970’s more defined the thoroughbred as a racing machine. Troy’s electrifying burst took acceleration to heights rarely climbed in a Derby or big race. Troy’s 7 length winning margin was the best since Manna in 1924.He annihilated rivals like Irish Guineas winner Dickens Hill ,miler Lyphards Wish,2000 Guineas winner Tap on Wood.Milford and champion 4 year old of 1980.Ela Mana Mou.
In the Irish Derby 2 weeks later Troy exhibited the same merciless authority, again conquering Dickens Hill. His victory at Epsom had not taken the slightest toll out of him.
Later in the season, in the King George 6th Diamond Stakes, Troy took on older horses for the first time. This time he was hard pressed, winning by margin of a lenght and a half,but still triumphed with conviction, to prevail over Prix Ganay winner, Gay Mecene.We missed an epic tussle between Troy and the Older champion horses Ile De Bourbon, who was the best colt of the 1978 season. Notable that Ile De Bourbon had beaten Gay Mecene with disdain in the Coronation Cup, that year. Still Troy displayed relentless courage and joined Nijinsky and The Minstrel, in pulling of the treble of the Epsom Derby, Irish Derby and King George.
In the Benson and Hedges Gold cup Troy prevailed by a mere 3/4th of a length over Crimson Beau, but the margin hardly reflected the authority with which he won. No horse previously won the Derbies, King George and the Benson and Hedges.
Troy was not at his best when finishing third to Three Troikas in the Prix De L’Arc de Trimomphe at the end of the season. The hard season, had taken the toll of his energy and he hardly showed the acceleration he did at Epsom, Curragh or Ascot. In my view, had he been his old self, Troy would have won ,becoming the first horse to win the Epsom and Irish Derbies, King George and Arc. Had he won at Longchamp,he may have been held in the same esteem as Nijinsky or Mill Reef.
Troy was syndicated for 7.2 million pounds. He erased a Timeform rating of 137, which Racing Post franked to 138.Possibly Troy was the best horse Wille Carson ever rode, with Dick Hern in 1979 classing him as the best he had ever trained.
In a curtailed career, Troy excelled as a sire of fillies and broodmares. He sired Helen Street, winner of the 1985 Irish Oaks and France’s Prix du Calvados: Helen Street produced Street Cry, the sire of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. By another daughter, Sheer Audacity. Troy was also the damsire of the 1999 Epsom Derby winner, Oath. ,sired Walensee, who raced in France and won the 1985 Prix Vermeille and was voted that country’s Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. She was the dam of Westerner, the 2004 and 2005 European Champion Stayer. Through another daughter, Cocotte Troy was the damsire of Pilsudski, the 1997 European Champion Older Horse. Troy’s son Tropular sired the Prix du Jockey Club winner Ragmar.
In my view over a mile and half or more Troy was on par with Generous,Alleged, Grundy, Crepello and Sir Ivor ,and just a notch below the likes of Mill Reef and Nijinksy. Troy would outstay the likes of Nashwan and El Gran Senor over a mile and half distance. Julian Wilson chose Troy above Generous, when choosing his best flat racehorses, but unfairly Robin Oakley excluded Troy from his 100 best race horses.
His ranking may be debatable, but without hesitation I would rate Troy as an all-time great flat racehorse, who stole the imagination of the racing public as few ever did, and above all have credibilty to British Breeding.
I’d have him as a top-class horse but not an all-time great, as he doesn’t have either the body of work or a series of outstanding performances to justify the latter status.
I remember Troy well.
Visually unforgettable Derby win, runner up won the Eclipse, third won the Champion Stakes.
Troy took the then (1m4f still a commercial optimum, then) Irish Derby/King George route before winning at York, a race sadly denied to viewers because of cameraman strike action.
Very good colt but didn’t beat enough other very good horses often enough or by far enough to be a “great.”
We seem to be having these daily at the moment and I’m sure this isn’t the first time we’ve discussed Troy.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Top class horse to reel off the Derby, Irish Derby, King George and dropping then back to 10f for York’s Benson & Hedges (aka Juddmonte) especially considering he had also won the Classic Trial & Predominate earlier that season already.
Fair to say that all those races (especially the hard race at York) probably caught up with him in the Arc although he did finish 3rd.
All time great……..no not for me, but he is high up in the list of horses that sit just below that level.
I remember Troy but for a quite different reason than all here.
Racehorses of 1979 was my first flat Timeform annual and collected every volume after until that terrible day it was announced there would be no more.
good luck to allHappy feelgood factor days – just looked in an old scrap book and on the day of the race Hills posted their Ante – Post book. They stood five losers in it – Hardgreen – 37,000, Man Of Vision – 9,000, Lyphards Wish – 43,000, Noelino – 88,000, and their biggest loser of all Troy – 103,000.
Troy was also the headline selection in the previous Thursday’s Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book.Barney Curley was a big fan noting that he was the only animal churning up turf, so powerfully was he galloping.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.