City of Troy does just enough to take down Eclipse Stakes

He made harder work of it than one might expect from a 1-5 shot, but City of Troy came through with a one-length win Saturday at Sandown Park in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes.

Getting a 10-pound weight-for-age break from runner-up Al Riffa, who is far from an established Group 1 animal, City of Troy did little Saturday to enhance his stature, though the 3-year-old colt has set a high bar with an undefeated championship season at 2 and a lights-out win in the Derby last month. City of Troy’s victory at Epsom came in his second start of the year following a shocking flop in the 2000 Guineas, and his Eclipse performance fell between that run and his Derby triumph.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien for Coolmore, City of Troy sat second and third under Ryan Moore while racing in the clear, towed along through the 1 1/4-mile contest by his pacesetting stablemate, Hans Anderson. Hans Anderson set a solid tempo into the three-furlong homestretch and had a lead of a couple lengths in the upper straightaway, but he was in this race as a pacemaker for his esteemed stablemate and soon gave way. City of Troy and fellow 3-year-old Ghostwriter raced in tandem with a quarter-mile to run, City of Troy pushing to the lead with 300 yards remaining, ducking down to the inside rail as he staved off a sustained bid from the back of the field from Al Riffa. Al Riffa, seventh last month in the Manhattan Stakes at Saratoga, was one length better than third-place Ghostwriter.

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Moore told overseas media that City of Troy briefly lost his action coming around the final turn, and that he erred in taking his mount down the center of the course because City of Troy has a habit of drifting to his right, natural momentum that would have taken him to the rail. And O’Brien adamantly stated that Sandown’s soft going Saturday didn’t at all suit City of Troy, who prefers staying atop the turf.

Nonetheless, City of Troy made it five wins from six starts and will be kept to 1 1/4 -mile racing this summer, with a start in the International at York or the Irish Champion at Leopardstown on his dance card. Connections reiterated following the Eclipse that City of Troy, by Justify and out of the Galileo mare Together Forever, has the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a year-end goal – and the dirt will not be soft at Del Mar in November.

* Epsom Oaks winner Ezeliya has been retired after sustaining a training injury this weekend, her connections announced Saturday. The Aga Khan homebred made her Group 1 debut in the Oaks and won it like a filly who could have a say in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October, but instead will become a broodmare. Trainer Dermot Weld described the injury as relatively inconsequential, but clearly it was serious enough to compromise her preparation for even a late-summer and autumn campaign. Ezeliya is by Dubawi out of Eziyra, by Teofilo.

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