Aidan O’Brien has been thinking about them all this week, the greats he has sent to try and scale racing’s greatest peak.
There have been 17 Ballydoyle attempts to win the Breeders Cup Classic. Some ended in agony, such as Giant’s Causeway (2000) and Declaration Of War (2013) being pipped at the post. Misery was the order of the day for superstars Galileo (2001) and Churchill (2017), who were beaten out of sight.
Tragedy, too, has been part of this remarkable crusade, for poor George Washington – nicknamed “Gorgeous” – suffered a fatal injury in the slop of Monmouth Park in 2007. The scarring from the failed expeditions has never fully healed.
‘We fail all the time but if we don’t fail we don’t get better,’ O’Brien said, as he stood next to Del Mar’s track and contemplated what will be in store for City Of Troy on Saturday evening. ‘You always learn more from your failures than your wins.’
It is O’Brien’s way to be self-deprecating but one thing he has not wavered from all year has been the resounding faith that he has in City Of Troy. He knows critics have been sniping about the esteem in which he holds this beautiful moving horse but that has only made him take more emphatic stance.
City Of Troy, pictured earlier this week being ridden by Rachel Richardson, is the favourite to win this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar
‘When we started working him as a two-year-old, we knew he was different,’ O’Brien said of City Of Troy, whose winning spree this summer has seen him land Epsom’s Derby, The Coral-Eclipse and the Juddmonte International. ‘Regardless of what anyone says, he’s by far the best we have ever trained.’
But he will need to be every bit as good as O’Brien believes, on a card at Del Mar that is bursting with quality. The Mile has lost key players in French filly Ramatuelle and O’Brien’s Diego Velazquez but still features some wonderful contenders, the Turf could produce an incredible story for Frankie Dettori and Emily Upjohn. She has looked a picture, trained to the minute by John Gosden.
There will be European winners aplenty but the one everyone wants to see is City Of Troy, whose arrival here on Thursday, when he was walked around the pre-parade ring and cantered on track under regular work rider Rachel Richardson was greeted with hushed reverence by a big crowd.
To win this, the nerveless Ryan Moore will need to react like an Olympic track cyclist: Del Mar is like a velodrome, tight and with little room to manoeuvre. The possibilities for things to go wrong are plentiful and who knows whether City Of Troy will handle the dirt surface as well as he does grass.
Many are waiting to take advantage: those close to Japanese contender Forever Young are expecting a bold show; Mike Repole, owner of second favourite Fierceness, has had some fun and said he hopes City Of Troy enjoys “the best second place of his life”.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has won almost everything, but he has not yet won the Breeders’ Cup
Repole, a billionaire whose fortune was made in selling soft drinks, won’t entertain the possibility that Fierceness will lose and has even challenged Coolmore to a rematch on turf at some point in the future. There is no chance of that happening, as the breeding sheds in Tipperary beckon for City Of Troy, but it’s a nice talking point. It adds to the feeling this is a heavyweight title fight.
‘The Classic is going to be ferocious and he is going to have to be on his game,’ said O’Brien. ‘If he is in any way laid back you’ll get wiped out, so I’d rather he was a little bit edgy.’
All week, it has been noticeable to see City Of Troy’s coat shining a little more, day by day. He has been in the stalls and done plenty of laps to stretch the legs and there was even a debrief with Jerry Bailey, the most successful rider in the Classic’s 40-year history, for the camp.
And if City Of Troy blasts out the gates, then history could well be within his reach. City Of Troy did something remarkable at York when winning the Juddmonte, covering the first three furlongs in 33 seconds and breaking the will and spirit of those who tried to keep pace.
City of Troy pictured on Friday walking in the paddock at Del Mar during morning workouts
Quite why that performance didn’t get the recognition it deserved is a mystery. The Juddmonte was the best race run anywhere in Europe this year, a point proven by the fact Bluestocking, who finished legless in fourth place, subsequently won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Put simply, we have been touched by greatness this summer and in this final chapter, it would be incredible if he could become the first European runner to land the Classic on dirt since Arcangues in Repeat what he did at York in the place where the Turf meets the Surf and they simply won’t catch him.
‘This is the most atrocious, demanding race for a horse all year,’ said O’Brien. ‘We have got a three-year-old running against older horses. He has an awful lot of things to overcome, if we are being realistic about it. We have prepared everything we can do. It’s going to be interesting.’
Interesting, absorbing, compelling: you couldn’t ask for anything more. This place was founded by Bing Crosby in the 1930s, who once asked in song: Did you ever see a dream walking? Just before 10pm, we might see a dream come true.
