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I did get a bit teary eyed about Auguste Rodin* last year but that’s because I like American racing and he was so like Sunday Silence.
*pity about the name, though….Depends what turns up against him.
The American 3yos are much of a muchness, and they don’t appear to have any outstanding older horses.
It could well be that Coolmore will finally achieve that Breeders Cup Classic dream.
They might as well give it a shot. He’s not unbeaten so there’s nothing to lose in that respect, but it’d be something different to have in the trophy cabinet if he pulls it off.
The logic behind it is rather idiotic – oh, he is by Justify (a US Triple Crown dirt winner) so he must surely be able to handle the dirt surface so we will head for the Classic.
The US bunch may seemingly not be anything special but they are tried and battled tested dirt horses through and through and not just trying it to make a statement for a horse’s stallion prospects.
Judging by York (and his runs as a 2yr old) he is best suited making the running and that is going to be a problem right off the bat for him to even be able to get the lead against US horses that break fast from the stalls.
If he was able to get the lead Ryan will not be allowed to dictate his own pace (even if he did there would be others forcing the pace faster) but in all likelyhood he is going to be in the pack and he will then have to deal with dirt kickback, which he has never experienced before and don’t think that by taking him for a spin on an all weather track that will be any preparation for that experience.
Lets not forget that they tried it with one of their best in Galileo and he managed a never threatening 6th, they tried it twice with George Washington and while he did go one better by finishing 5th to Invasor in 2006, he sadly broke done fatally in the race the following season.
For me if they wanted to try something different with COT then they should be looking at the Japan Cup which invariably is run on lightning fast ground and is a big open galloping track which would likely suit his long stride.
“The US bunch may seemingly not be anything special but they are tried and battled tested dirt horses through and through”.
Agree LD. I dare say Coolmore will roll the dice and have a go, given his pedigree and the circumstances and their obvious desire to win the race. But I think it will require an incredible performance by City Of Troy to win on his first start on the dirt against battle hardened dirt horses.
Any bookmaker worth their salt would have to lay him for the absolute maximum.
So You Think put in a good effort in the Classic for them as well but he was one tough horse . Whoever turns up against him will be tough , Travers Stakes will be interesting as they have Sierra Leone in that , he takes some winding up but he battles on well late in his races , I’d have him over COT at the moment .
Taking on Japan in JC even harder that BC nowadays , if he went to Cox Plate though he would win the length of straight .Coolmore are first and foremost a breeding operation so its what John magnier looks to be the best for the business. It would have been fascinating in a parallel universe to see how aidan would have campaigned some of his top horses if he had the final say.
The hype surrounding the horses is just noise to me. I just love watching good horses and saw alleged in my first visit to a racecourse in the 77 voltigeur beating the Derby runner up by 10 lengths. Alleged would have been up there as one of the greats bar a very injury interrupted 4 Yr old campaign. Great feat by the great doctor to win a second arc.
I do get frustrated by coolmore not running horses in races that clearly suit the horse.
Tapestry being the classic example. Beats the king george winner over 12 f then dropped down to a mile for the matron where not surprisingly she got beaten.
Hopefully when aidan retires we might get his inner thoughts on coolmore. In fairness to John magnier he gets it right the vast majority of the time.Flat racing at the top level is only about producing sires. Actually winning races is just a nice bonus
RP article below from today at Southwell.
I actually considered going along, but my boss thought otherwise.
I’ve bet him for Breeders Cup though, and it would be nice for him to finish the season with a bang
I would be wary of Forever Young in the BC Kris , but I hope that he does it for you as he’s been some spot for you
Thank you ss
Hopefully he can go out with a bang now, with this being confirmed as his last run
Going to be retired to Coolmore in Ireland after Breeders Cup.
Good for European racing.O’Brien says he’s definitely their best horse ever and has got more improvement in him.
However, if that were true wouldn’t you keep the horse in training at four?
Is it possible they don’t want to prove it because they know it is not true?City Of Troy is imo currently the best horse in Europe and I hope he can improve in the Breeders Cup and prove he’s the best. But he’s not that much in front of Calandagan, Kyprios, White Birch, Goliath, Rosallion, Notable Speech and Economics… who are all within reach. If any of them are fit to run again, one could yet put up a better performance than COT – this season.
“Best they’ve ever had”, Galileo and Hawk Wing might disagree.
Value Is EverythingDid anyone really think that he was going to stand anywhere else but at Coolmore Ireland?
Can’t disprove the O’Brien PR b/s about him when he is shipped off to stud without us having the wanted clash against the likes of Economics/Calandagan/Goliath that would likely of gone a long in proving O’Brien’s latest bold claim one way or tother.
There are a number of previous O’Brien trained horses that I would take over COT – like Galileo, Hawk Wing (the Lockinge version), Giant’s Causeway (who should have won the BC Classic had Kinane not got in a muddle with his reins) and Rock of Gibraltar (very underrated for me, who’s 7 consecutive G1 wins was a European record that stood for 10 years until broken by Frankel).
What are the odds that somewhere down the line we don’t have another Coolmore horse that will pop up that is labelled as ‘just different or ‘very unusual or ‘unlike anything we have seen before’ etc……..he just can’t help himself and is like the boy who cried wolf!
Kyprios Timeform Rating 128, City Of Troy’s Timeform Rating 130p.
Truth is Kyprios could improve 3 lbs next week and be a better horse than City OF Troy.
Now wouldn’t that be ironic.Would Kyprios then be “the best horse AOB has ever trained”?
Moore will be told not to win by very far. LOL
Value Is Everything
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