Troy Toughs It Out

Sandown hosted the Coral-Eclipse last weekend. Previous winners of the prestigious race include Sea The Stars, Enable and Golden Horn. There was one potential superstar looking to add his name to that list...

City Of Troy was coming off the back of last month’s Derby victory, where he firmly established himself as a force to be reckoned with. York being the next big target, this was seen as a stepping stone for the son of Justify, and the odds reflected that at 1/4.

The field got away to a level break, Hans Andersen went forward, acting as pacemaker for City Of Troy, with Ghostwriter keeping tabs with the odds-on favourite.

It was almost single file as they swung into the home-straight and City Of Troy sat poised in the centre of the course, ready to take over. Taking the lead , he and Ryan Moore were expected to put the race to bed, but on rain-softened ground he was making hard work of it.

Ghostwriter began to close on the inside, whilst Al Riffa came charging down the outside proving a real threat to City Of Troy. As they hit the hill, City Of Troy pulled out by a length, and managed to hang on, making hard work of what should have been a routine test on paper.
Earlier in the day was the Coral Charge, which was won by Makarova. This was the filly’s first success since winning the Listed Land O’Burns Stakes at Ayr, and going one better than last year’s performance in the same race.

A competitive Distaff Stakes had four horses with leading claims, according to the market. Indelible, Regal Jubilee, Soprano and Clove Hitch all turned into the straight behind the leaders Bolsena and Spiritual.

Spread wide across the course, there didn’t seem to be a horse to pick out who was making an impression. It was an outsider, Spiritual, who began to pick up, landing her first win since her debut for the Shoemark and Gosden combinaiton.

Haydock experienced an abandonment right before the highlight handicap of the day, the Old Newton Cup, due to horses slipping on the bend for home.

Luckily, we managed to see the Lancashire Oaks, after a 25 minute delay. Tiffany, for Sir Mark Prescott, sparkled in the Hoppings Fillies’ Stakes last week and was hoping to make it a quick-fire double to follow in Alpinista’s footsteps.

Down the home-straight, Tiffany began to pick up tackling Lady Boba down the outside but Queen Of The Pride stayed on up on the inside and powered away to land the Group Two prize.