Aidan O’Brien expects Ryan Moore to ride City Of Troy in Saturday’s Betfred Derby despite market support for stablemate Los Angeles seeing him challenge for Epsom favouritism.
Despite his blow-out in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, the former, champion two-year-old after a three-race unbeaten start to his career in 2023, was as short as 7/4 to bounce back and win at Epsom. However at 3pm on Tuesday he was 11/4 with Betfair, Paddy Power and Sky Bet. Los Angeles is into 10/3 from 6/1 with the first two firms and 3/1 the latter. However the trainer, speaking on a France Galop zoom call on Tuesday, was asked if he expected Moore to keep the faith with City Of Troy and said: “That’s the plan, that is what we were thinking of doing. I didn’t hear anything different and I think that has been the plan all along.” said O’Brien. The master of Ballydoyle reiterated that Euphoric is set to join the big two at Epsom with Diego Velazquez bound for the French Derby, adding: “That is what we’re thinking of, maybe the three, everything seems well with them all at the moment so that’s what we’re thinking.” He also played down fears that soft ground could count against City Of Troy. That (ground) should be fine I think, they’re giving Friday and Saturday dry, so you often see the ground can be slow for the Oaks and perfect for the Derby. We think and hope it’s going to be nice ground and I think that’ll suit everybody really,” he said. Of the moves in the Derby market, Betfair spokesman Barry Orr said: ‘’As a Group One winning two-year-old old on soft ground any further precipitation wouldn’t be an inconvenience to Los Angeles and he should improve considerably for his win in a recognised trial at Leopardstown. Each way backers took the 6/1 down to his current 10/3. City Of Troy is very uneasy on the Betfair exchange and punters are taking a watching brief with him for now.” Paddy Power spokesman Paul Binfield said: “Los Angeles has now usurped Ambiente Friendly as second favourite and after sustained support is into 10/3 from 5s. Nothing will change City Of Troy being our biggest loser at this stage as he was all the rage for the guts of a year, although there don’t seem to be many punters keen to back him now even at 11/4 (from 9-4).” Sky Bet Head of Sports PR Michael Shinners said: “The momentum on Tuesday is definitely with Los Angeles. I don’t know if people have concerns over the ground for City Of Troy but plenty will be keeping an eye on the forecast for Epsom and it will be interesting to see how this plays out before declaration time on Thursday and then through to the race.”
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