Cash floods in for City Of Troy for the Derby as punters keep the faith in Aidan O’Brien’s flop
PUNTERS are giving City Of Troy a second chance after he bombed out in the 2000 Guineas on Saturday.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt has been backed back in to joint favouritism for the Derby after the bookies initially pushed his price right out for the Epsom Classic.
He was as short as 5-4 for the Derby on June 1 heading to Newmarket, but as he trailed home in ninth place behind Notable Speech he was eased out to 8-1 in a few places.
Legendary trainer O’Brien could offer no real excuses after the colt’s odds-on flop on Saturday.
But in a subsequent TV interview he said he didn’t get enough work into the horse in the build-up to the Guineas and that he was far too keen in the early stages to do himself justice.
Fans are clearly buying into the theory that City Of Troy, who was the champion two-year-old in 2023, would come on for the run on his seasonal reappearance.
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There is also the recent example of Auguste Rodin, who flopped badly in the Guineas before winning the Derby on his next start, to give fans hope.
And Coral say they have been coming back in for the horse in the Derby betting, and he now shares favouritism with Godolphin’s Arabian Crown at 4-1.
Coral’s David Stevens said: “We only eased City Of Troy out to 6-1 for the Derby despite his hugely disappointing 2,000 Guineas run.
“As we saw last year with Auguste Rodin, his trainer can win at Epsom with a colt well beaten at Newmarket.
“And it seems punters are willing to forgive him that performance, as he’s once again at the head of the Classic betting, albeit for now he shares that position.”
Speaking at the Curragh, O’Brien said: “I do think I left him too fresh going to the Guineas.
“When he got into the stalls, he jumped around a bit and he didn’t get a chance to relax, so he would have hit the gates when his heart rate was very high.
“When they start a race with a heart rate so high, they can only last for so long in a race. That’s probably why he only got to halfway and then he entered the red zone.
“When a horse starts panicking like that in the stalls, their heart rate rises up straight away.
“When you start off a race with a heartbeat that high, you really only get to halfway in any race. I think that’s what happened to him.
“He was too fresh really and that’s what we’re putting it down to.”
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