City Of Troy completed his preparation for a Breeders’ Cup Classic bid with a work-out on the artificial surface at Southwell on Friday.
The Ballydoyle team were keen for the son of Justify to get used to the differing factors of American racing ahead of the Breeders' Cup and left nothing to chance, flying over a set of American starting stalls and conducting the gallop with a bell. City Of Troy was accompanied by four stablemates – Congo River, Democracy, Master Of The Hunt and Edwardian – to ensure a strong gallop was established and the work-out appeared to go as expected, with the exciting three-year-old pulling clear as he passed the Southwell finishing line.
In an interview with Sky Sports Racing, O'Brien said: "We're lucky to have him and he's one of those special horses, we think, and have always thought he was.
"It's great to have the Classic there for him at the end (of the season) and we obviously decided to give him every chance to go to America and run his best race. That's why we're here – we've come to Southwell plenty of times before and the horses have always run big races. The surface is obviously different now. The lads said it was much slower than race-day but that means it's going to be closer to the dirt than the normal way it would ride, which is what we wanted really. We're delighted and we appreciate (Southwell) doing it for us.
"He was quick into stride and obviously Ryan (Morre) was going to leave him relaxed – the other horses were going to have to go much harder earlier than he was, because we didn't want to be taken aback. When he goes to America, he's obviously going to go forward, it's a while since he ran now and he was sleeping – that's what we concentrate on, keeping him asleep at home.
"I think the lads went a nice, strong, even rhythm. We had a couple of four, five furlong horses leading. The pace was strong and even, Ryan said he just cruised around and when he turned in, he was just waiting and then let him stretch on until the line.
"He did what he always does, and kept galloping through the line."
