Trojan Horse is Full of Sh!t

[RolloTomasi]

CITY OF TROY TO THE ECLIPSE STAKES

Aidan O'Brien hopes Saturday's Coral-Eclipse will be the first step on a road to greatness for City Of Troy after mapping out a challenging route for the second half of the season.

An easy first step mind you; this is a very meek Eclipse field to say the least. Nevertheless, I'm interested in this "challenging route" post-Eclipse.

What are we talking about? Travers-JCGC-Woodward? Pacific Classic? Juddmonte-Irish Champion-English Champion? King George & Arc de Triomphe?

Will somebody please shut that clap-trapping Cassandra up?

The Derby winner will run over a mile and a quarter for the first time at Sandown and is expected to stay at that trip for the rest of a campaign that is set to take in the Juddmonte International or Irish Champion Stakes followed by the Breeders' Cup Classic on dirt in November.

Eh?

The Juddmonte OR the Irish Champion? One or the other of two rather middle of the road Group 1s followed by 8-10 weeks off before the BC?

Oh shi!t, it's a trap. Quick, close the f'n gates!

O'Brien stressed that the safe option for City Of Troy would have been the Irish Derby but that the Coolmore team would keep pushing the boundaries.

Back in the day the Irish Derby was NOT the safe option because it frequently drew both the Epsom & French Derby winners. But in this age of the super trainer (exemplified by the Coolmore operation) the race has become a watered-down Ballydoyle snooze fest that amounts to little more than a team workout.

Meanwhile, the Eclipse has taken a tumble prestige-wise as the upgraded Prince of Wales' at Royal Ascot has stolen a lot of its thunder.

Oh, and Coolmore won that race anyways with their previous horse-of-a-lifetime, Auguste Rodin, who of course, does not show up for the Eclipse even though that's the next logical spot for him & would serve the whole essence of the Eclipse (i.e. for the top 3yo to take on a top level older horse).

So either way, the only thing City of Troy has to worry about in his next start is whether or not he'll turn in to a pig again (see the 2000 Guineas) like the washed-up Greeks in the Odyssey.

Speaking at an Eclipse news conference organised by the Jockey Club and British Champions Series, the trainer said: "The big leap from this race would be the Irish Champion Stakes or the Juddmonte International. I'd imagine the lads are looking at those races and they might keep him to this part of the world for as long as they can but nothing is written in stone.

That's not a big leap between the Eclipse & those races; that's the classic middle distance (ie 10 furlongs) path in the UK every year. Eclipse-Juddmonte-Irish Champion-English Champion.

If the field for the Eclipse is any indication of what to expect in those later races, we can call it a season right now.

And City of Troy is only going to show up for ONE of those after the Eclipse.

This will be like the Aeneid when Aeneas decides to vegetate in Carthage rather than go to work founding Rome (which wasn't built in one race)...

"I'm sure the lads have an eye on the Classic at the end of the year. Over the years the lads have been very happy to expose horses and to try new things with them. They're not afraid to travel, keep them in training or get them beat, which is great for racing."

Yeah, maybe a long time ago. When's the last time they ran anything on dirt in the US? Maybe 2018?

That's almost as long as it took Ulysses to get back Ithaca.

Actually, now that I think about it, Ithaca isn't that far from Saratoga...

Connections have always mooted a potential crack at the Breeders' Cup Classic, given his sire Justify completed the American Triple Crown on dirt in 2018, but a warm-up in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August appears to be off the agenda.

Big leap? Travel? Exposure? No fear?

They watched this year's Triple Crown, right?

O'Brien added: "We've had horses just beaten in the Breeders' Cup Classic, like Declaration Of War and Giant's Causeway, and they never went over for a dirt race before that. We took them to Southwell for a gallop. If Saturday went well, the lads might go to another race and if we're going to America then we could go to Southwell before."

Of course, Mendelssohn--who coincidentally was by the same sire as Justify--came over for several dirt starts before the BC including the Travers & then acquitted himself quite well in the Classic. And he, was never even considered the cream of the Coolmore crop that season.

But I suppose running in a single race after the Eclipse instead of the Travers will be the equivalent of the 12 Labors of Hercules...

...or at least the part where Hercules has to shovel a bunch of BULLSH!T...

"If the lads wanted to keep things safe, he would have been a very short price in the Irish Derby and a lot of horses would have run away from him. We had Los Angeles, who had a chance of winning the race as well, and by him coming to Sandown it was going to let anyone with three-year-olds or older horses run against him. He's probably going to learn more at Sandown, which he needs to."

The problem is, the outfit with another three-year-old or older horse is Coolmore itself, & despite all the talk, they won't pit City of Troy against Auguste Rodin.

The Eclipse is so mediocre this year, that Robert Plant circe 1975 could of won this in his post-car accident wheelchair while simultaneously singing "Achilles Last Stand".

O'Brien, who also saddles Hans Andersen in the Eclipse, added: "Hans Andersen will go forward and will go an even pace, which will suit everybody. In these big championship races, you want an even pace so everyone gets a clean shot and we can all learn."

Hans Andersen? In the race for everyone's benefit? Yeah, right. We're supposed to believe that?

Sounds like more F'N FAIRY TALES if you ask me..

[Kasept]

Ah.. the benefits of a classical education.. Thank you Rollo. Fabulous as always..

Quite a slog in the Eclipse for City of Troy, laboring to victory.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Quite a slog in the Eclipse for City of Troy, laboring to victory.

Yeah, that was not impressive. In addition to the mediocre field, he was getting 10 lbs from the marginal older horse in there (who just got drilled in the Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes undercard). And that horse nearly ran him down.

They're certainly not going to run him too many more times now & risk rocking his rickety status as the top horse in Europe.

At this point, I'd rather see last year's Horse of a Lifetime--Auguste Rodin--try the dirt in the BC Classic (but it sounds like he's not going to go to the BC at all as he is targeting the Japan Cup).

At least Godolphin is investing more in American turf racing; of course, it might be out of necessity as Appleby can't do a thing over there beyond some impressive 2yo winners.

[freddymo]

Tinky
@Tinky47flat
·
34m
I was just speaking with the Boss about this, and, frankly speaking, we've never had a colt who bathes with such élan, and athletic flair.

– Aidan O'Brien (probably)

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by freddymo

Tinky
@Tinky47flat
·
34m
I was just speaking with the Boss about this, and, frankly speaking, we've never had a colt who bathes with such élan, and athletic flair.

– Aidan O'Brien (probably)

Granted my participation on this board & interactions with Freddymo have been quite limited recently, but when I first read this I thought Freddy himself had crafted the tweet & that it was more evidence that he had somehow transitioned into a sober, articulate, & well-educated poster with a heavy dose of witty sarcasm.

But it turned out to be an actual Tweet.

So here's hoping that the old drunk, incoherent, moron Freddy will reappear at some point...

Then again, is Freddy actually Tinky?

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Granted my participation on this board & interactions with Freddymo have been quite limited recently, but when I first read this I thought Freddy himself had crafted the tweet & that it was more evidence that he had somehow transitioned into a sober, articulate, & well-educated poster with a heavy dose of witty sarcasm.

But it turned out to be an actual Tweet.

So here's hoping that the old drunk, incoherent, moron Freddy will reappear at some point...

Then again, is Freddy actually Tinky?

Since, for better or worse, I know both of them...I can't think of two more different people.

[Kasept]

As it happens, Tinky returns to ATR today ~ after an extended hiatus dating back to Belmont Week 2012..