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A belated thanks to you everyone
I get to see him a second time today, and I hope that I leave happier than I did at Newmarket.
I don’t have to worry about a big ante-post bet this time, so I just hope that we see the great Derby Winner here, and not the Guineas flop
On that performance, he’s clearly a very good horse but is not an outstanding champion.
Frankel only beat zoffany by less than a length and struggled to beat cirrus des angles in his last race in soft going. Decent ground in the juddmonte and we hopefully see him at his best. A few Derby winners have been overturned in the eclipse. Also al riffa much better horse when it’s soft.
Frankel had already produced several outstanding performances before his St James’s Palace win, which was by far the least impressive of his career. He then went on to clock several 140+ efforts.
City Of Troy hasn’t even registered a 130 yet. Any comparison with Frankel is farcical.
City of Troy isn’t remotely on Frankel’s level , let’s remember he was getting weight today …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Not sure any horse should be compared to Frankel.
The more I know the less I understand.
Three runs this season, a flop, an impressive win and a ground out victory in a race he had every right to win. As a 3yo he is at the moment a good horse in my opinion.
The more I know the less I understand.
He is a good horse. We would probably appreciate that more if he hadn’t been hyped the way he has been. He was never going to live up to the expectations.
One true mark of a good horse is the ability to stick their head down and battle it out to win when conditions don’t suit and the pressure is on. City Of Troy has earned the badge with that performance.
Combination of jockeyship and sheer determination got him home today, I thought he looked tired towards the end of the race and maybe he was still feeling the effects of winning the Derby.
Sea The Stars was not given an easy time by RIP Van Winkle when he won the Eclipse but like COT he managed to dig deep at the finish and win by the same distance of 1 length.
Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Time was third slowest in last 20 years, which shows how really soft it was. Good break to York, so hopefully good ground there. The obsession with Frankel means we never fully appreciate very,very good horses. I don’t think he got the credit he deserved for winning the Derby from stall 1 and I hope we see a top performance at York. The second is clearly a pretty damn good horse on that ground and will be a force a 10f if its soft.
As regards his stallion prospects I don’t think it did him any harm. The fact he battled on ground he clearly hated is surely a big plus to breeders.
It is interesting that Timeform rate the Eclipse performance as 2 lb better than City Of Troy’s Derby winning performance rating. Admittedly the Derby had a “+” and the Eclipse doesn’t.
The second Al Riffa had been well below form on his last run on very firm ground in the USA. However, on soft ground on his penultimate start / 2024 reappearance in the Group 1 Ganay, put up what was then his career best effort. Beaten less than half a length in 4th. I thought beforehand he may have been flattered, but I was wrong. The first two that day got first run on the 3rd 4th and 5th. Haya Zark beat Zarir, Feed The Flame, Al Riffa and Horizon Dore. With the distances Head, neck, head, nose. The Fifth Horizon Dore (who was the most inconvenienced by the pace) has since been beaten only a short head in the Prix D’Isphahan (with Haya Zark 3/4 length away in 3rd)… Horizon Dore then 1 3/4 lengths 3rd to Auguste Rodin in the POW. Feed The Flame has since been 1 3/4 lengths runner-up in the Prix Du Saint Cloud to Dubai Honour. Al Riffa had also won the Group 1 National Stakes as a juvenile… And had already shown improved form this year on soft ground, so shouldn’t be a shock he improved again given the same surface.
So, had Horizon Dore (or Feed The Flame) finished a length behind City Of Troy in the Eclipse… And Ghostwriter had not run in France and went to Sandown off a 4 1/2 length 4th in the 2000 Guineas. ie Looking as if he’d be well suited by 10 furlongs… With a reminder there was 5 1/2 lengths back from 3rd to the 4th in the Eclipse…
Would we be questioning the form quite so much?
Is that just how good City Of Troy is? Just a one length better horse than Al Riffa.
Value Is Everything“Would we be questioning the form quite so much?”
Some of us aren’t …
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
The form is def questionable ….everyone forgetting his first run to ….
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
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