City Of Troy was an enormous two-year-old. I remember finishing third behind him at the July meeting. He was jogging and still ran us into the ground – you don’t see many horses do that. If he has improved as a three-year-old, or even maintained the same level, then he’ll be pretty hard to beat. It looks very hard to find any chinks in his armour.
However, no horse is unbeatable and you just need something to go your way on the day; that could be the rain coming and the ground softening up. It is a strong race with the likes of Haatem, Noble Speech and Rosallion also in there.
I monitor Kevin Ryan’s horses a lot and although I’m not riding Inisherin, I know that he’s a lovely big horse with a big stride on him. He’s a 40/1-shot but Kevin rocked up to the race last year and finished second with Hi Royal at 125/1! We know he’s capable of springing a shock and Inisherin could do just that.
Hoping Fallen Angel can land 1000 Guineas
I think the 1000 Guineas is a bit more of an open race. Fallen Angel is owned by a good friend of mine and she has everything going for her in what would be a fairytale win for the owners. She sets the standard based on last year’s Moyglare form. She beat Ylang Ylang in that race meaning that Aidan O’Brien’s horse now has to improve based on the ratings, but who better to get that improvement out of her than Aidan?
I like the Godolphin horse Dance Sequence. They were speaking very highly of her before she was beaten in the Nell Gwyn, but she wasn’t beaten far. I don’t think she lost any credibility from that race and importantly she comes here with a run under her belt. That could play a big part fitness-wise compared to Fallen Angel and Ylang Ylang who haven’t had a run yet this season.
It is a very open race but I’m hoping Fallen Angel will win it for my friend Steve Parkin.
