City Of Troy, due to run in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes, could tackle the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Auguste Rodin the Japan Cup, both worth over £4m, at the end of the year
Aidan O’Brien is eyeing a tilt at two of the world’s richest races that not even he has managed to land with his two Epsom Derby winners..
The master trainer, who has no peers, landed his 400th Group 1 victory on the Flat during another dominant week at Royal Ascot.
He has captured prizes all over the world but among those to have eluded him are the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the US and the Japan Cup.
O’Brien came close to winning the Classic, which is run on dirt, when Giant’s Causeway was denied by Tiznow in 2000.
In the brilliant City Of Troy, a son of US Triple Crown winner Justify, he finally has a contender who is bred to excel on US dirt.
And Auguste Rodin has a compelling connection to Japan as he is a son of Deep Impact, who became a superstar in his home country where he won the Japan Cup in 2006.
The Classic and Turf, which he won last year, have been mentioned among Auguste Rodin’s 2024 options.
After winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot he is now being prepared for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot
And City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin are likely to continue to be kept apart for the rest of the year.
“They both have different options for the second half of the season and Auguste Rodin could be a Japan Cup horse,” said O’Brien.
“He has won at the Breeders’ Cup already and maybe the lads might do that and maybe City Of Troy could be a horse for the Classic.
“They like to play all their cards differently to suit their horses and at the same time they love watching racing and going racing, so they try to spread them out.”
City Of Troy’s route to Del Mar could include a trip to York next month or a first outing of the year on home soil.
The Ballydoyle trainer is in no rush to expose City Of Troy to dirt before a possible run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with a trip to Southwell mooted to garner experience on a similar surface.
“I suppose the leap after this race would have to be either the Irish Champion Stakes or the Juddmonte International and I would imagine the lads would be looking at those races, without knowing or discussing what they are thinking,” added O’Brien.
“I would hope we keep him racing in this part of the world for as long as we can and I just feel he is going to be a very important horse to European pedigrees if we can keep him to this part of the world.
He continued: “We’ve had horses just beaten in the Classic before, 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 and I know the surface has changed there now, it’s Tapeta and a bit different to Polytrack.
“I would hope if the Eclipse went well, it would be another race and if we decide to go to America then maybe we give him a day out at Southwell or something. None of that is written in stone what the lads are thinking, but that’s what is going on in our heads at the minute.”
