Ryan Moore ominously confident on ‘brilliant’ City Of Troy delivering Coral-Eclipse crown for Aidan O’Brien
RYAN MOORE sounds ominously confident of the ‘brilliant’ City Of Troy justifying his incredibly skinny odds in the Coral-Eclipse.
The Derby hero is just 1-3 to add a 1m2f Group 1 success to his CV – and take another step towards racing immortality.
The superstar three-year-old colt looked every inch a world-beater when hosing up at Epsom.
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A victory that firmly put in the past his flop in the 2000 Guineas, which came on the back of an awesome two-year-old campaign.
It will be a new trip on Saturday for City Of Troy and he has never gone right-handed round a bend.
But Betfair ambassador Moore is confident his seven rivals are all running for second place.
He told Betfair: “We obviously always thought the world of him at two and he delivered each time, so we were all a touch bemused by his performance in the Guineas and, as a result, we went to Epsom more hopeful than confident that he could get back on track.
“However, we clearly saw the two-year-old version at Epsom when he was brilliant in beating Ambiente Friendly and Los Angeles, and the Irish Derby put that performance into an even more favourable context.
“This represents a different test and challenge once again, but he comes here in good shape and we are very happy with him.”
Moore has four other rides at the Esher track on Saturday afternoon – but sounded a note of caution over Perotto.
The Roger Varian-trained six-year-old was beaten just a length in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot.
But the forecast downpour all day on Friday could hinder his chances of winning the Class 2 Coral Challenge for a second year in a row.
Moore said: “He won this race in good style last season but he is 8lb higher here.
“So the issue is whether the handicapper has got hold of him now. But he clearly ran a huge race when third in the Hunt Cup last time and he is two from two at this track, so there are plenty of positives.
“The less rain, the better his chance.”
Meanwhile, Moore is looking forward to hopping back on top class sprinter Twilight Calls.
But he said he needs to be sharper out the gate if he wants to land the Group 3 Coral Charge.
Moore added: “What I said about him before Royal Ascot stands, and that is he is in with an excellent chance if he can get out of the stalls even adequately well.
“The starts are costing him dearly at the moment – hopefully the first-time cheekpieces could help him there – but he has still run very good races at Newmarket and Ascot this season, and a stiff 5f on decent ground here really should suit him.
“But I see there they are currently forecast for quite a bit of rain on Friday into Saturday, and that wouldn’t be ideal for him.”
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