Aidan O’Brien says City Of Troy the ‘best horse’ he’s ever had for the Derby – despite Newmarket flop

AIDAN O’BRIEN still reckons his Troy story can have a happy ending, despite an almighty flop in the 2000 Guineas.

Far from cooling the hype around last year’s champion two-year-old, the legendary trainer has doubled-down ahead of the Betfred Derby on June 1.

Expectations were through the roof heading into the Guineas, but the race was a complete disaster from start to finish.

O’Brien shouldered the blame for the performance, which saw him beaten at halfway when the 4-6 favourite behind eventual winner Notable Speech.

And when asked how he coped with the defeat, teetotal O’Brien joked: “With a big bottle of whisky!”

But he still reckons City Of Troy is the most gifted horse he has ever sent to the Derby – which is saying something given he has won it a record nine times.

O’Brien said: “It’s my responsibility what happened at Newmarket, we always do our homework but clearly we hadn’t done enough going there.

“The lads are unbelievable because they take disappointment on the chin, we’ve been doing this for 30 years now and plenty has gone wrong in the past.

“City Of Troy is the horse with the most ability we have ever sent to the Derby.

“We have changed a few things at home and I am very happy with him. We still have five or six more pieces of work to get into him between now and then.”

No stone will be left unturned ahead of the race O’Brien describes as ‘the most important, every year’.

City Of Troy is fitted out with a heart rate monitor and GPS tracker, while his work rider, Dean Gallagher, wears an earpiece to stay in communication with the gaffer.

And the horse, who is 7-2 joint-favourite alongside Arabian Crown with the race sponsors, has been getting his eye in around Ballydoyle’s Tattenham Corner replica.

O’Brien added: “He has everything you want in a Derby horse. We just have to put a line through Newmarket and hope the real City Of Troy turns up next month.

“We knew there were tweaks we were going to need to do with his work. 

“Just little things, like we always had him sitting second in the string where the spotlight was on him, but we have dropped him further back and he is enjoying himself.

“Some horses don’t like being centre of attention all the time and maybe he is just enjoying that again.

“On everything he shows us here we are still very hopeful and expectant for the future.”

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