City Of Troy’s excellence could result in a rare Derby and Eclipse double at Sandown on Saturday

The G1 Eclipse Stakes (1990m) provides the first opportunity for this season’s Classic generation to be compared to their elders as City Of Troy attempts to become only the fifth horse in more than 50 years to win both the Derby and the Eclipse Stakes in the same year.

Historically it takes an exceptional horse to do the double, an achievement that only four horses have managed in the past half-century – Mill Reef (1971), Nashwan (1989), Sea The Stars (2009) and Golden Horn (2015).

Aidan O’Brien-trained, Ryan Moore-ridden City Of Troy could prove an exception to the rule as he takes on seven rivals on Saturday (6 July) at Sandown.

Amongst O’Brien’s talents include bringing horses back from a disappointment to a brilliant peak next time out, something City Of Troy illustrated with his stinging surge up the far rail in the G1 Derby Stakes (2405m) at Epsom early last month.

Sceptics had questioned whether champion two-year-old City Of Troy could deliver in the Derby after his dismal 2024 return in Newmarket’s G1 2000 Guineas (1600m), but O’Brien’s faith in the son of Justify was vindicated with panache. And O’Brien appears to hold the same conviction regarding the outlook for City Of Troy at Sandown, especially focusing on what the colt will have learnt from Epsom.

“Everything at Epsom was new to him. He had never raced on that sort of track or gone that far or been dropped in off the pace. There was so much stuff at Epsom that he had never had to deal with before so to see him coping so well with it was great, and he learned an awful lot that day, he really did,” O’Brien said.

One may assume that Hans Andersen, O’Brien’s other Eclipse runner and a huge-priced outsider, will have something to do with the early pace to prevent the race becoming too tactical. That has sometimes been a factor in this mid-summer spectacular.

The two most obvious contenders to cause a big-race upset are Dancing Gemini (Kieran Shoemark) and Ghostwriter (Richard Kingscote), both also three-year-olds. The former had almost landed a shock victory in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas, 1600m) at ParisLongchamp and then briefly threatened in the Derby only to run out of gas late on. The strong suggestion from that was that Saturday’s shorter trip would prove a big plus.

Ghostwriter, unbeaten at two, finished fourth in last month’s G1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, 2100m). Trainer Clive Cox said: “Rain turned the ground heavy that day at Chantilly and Ghostwriter just couldn’t quicken the way he had on faster ground last year.”

Current predictions are that the ground will be good or faster on Saturday.

Image Sandown Racecourse