A LEGENDARY horse owner who prefers to keep a low profile returned to the races for the first time in 12 years – and walked away with a share of £425,000.
Sue Magnier – wife of iconic racing figure John – was part of the Coolmore clan at Sandown last weekend.
Flanked by her husband, and fellow Coolmore partners Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, Sue was making her first reappearance at a British racecourse in 12 years.
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The reason? To see City Of Troy.
Aidan O’Brien’s stable star won the Coral-Eclipse, the feature race of the day, but failed to do so as impressively as he did the Derby at Epsom.
There he kicked clear coming down the hill and barely needed urging from jockey Ryan Moore to thunder past the post.
Moore said afterwards he couldn’t pull him up.
It couldn’t have been more different at Sandown.
City Of Troy, who O’Brien already says is the greatest horse he has ever trained, hung right up the hill and cut across Ghostwriter.
Joseph O’Brien’s Al Riffa – a horse rated 10lbs inferior to City Of Troy on the day – challenged him to the line, going down only by a length.
It wasn’t quite what you expected from the 1-4 favourite.
There was relief more than joy at the end after Sandown’s rain-hit ground appeared to blunt City Of Troy’s awesome finishing kick.
Still, it was job done for the all-conquering Coolmore operation – who look to City Of Troy as their stallion of the future.
And a happy return to a British racecourse for Sue.
She is the daughter of late Vincent O’Brien – the man regarded as the greatest racehorse trainer ever.
Her marriage to Irish businessman John was like the coming together of racing royalty and it is in her name, along with Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, that City Of Troy runs.
But for all the winners in that name, she has not been on a British racecourse since watching Camelot claim the Derby in 2012.
And her last trip to Sandown in Esher had come ten years before that.
So it showed how special City Of Troy is that she made the journey and posed for photos in the winner’s enclosure.
The £425,000 first-place prize – while relative peanuts to these mutli-millionaires – no doubt helped a bit too.
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