IN THE CITY
The £1billion athlete – can ‘best ever’ City Of Troy become the most valuable horse of all time?
Success on the track is only half the battle
IS Derby winner City Of Troy on course to become the £1billion horse - and possibly the most valuable of all time?
That is surely on the mind of trainer Aidan O'Brien and the horse's owners John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.
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Because for all this superstar colt's brilliance on the racetrack, it's his value as a commercial entity that could see profits soar to truly staggering levels.
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Just look at Galileo.
Like City Of Troy, Galileo won the Derby in 2001 then went onto became the undisputed king of the stallion world.
He produced more Derby winners than anyone else, fathered arguably the greatest racehorse ever in Frankel and saw his progeny go onto Group 1 success around the world before being put down in 2021.
At his pomp he was rumoured to be charging £600,000 a cover.
While his progeny are proven money-making machines.
Frankel - who charges £350,000 a cover at stud - made £3million on the track, Highland Reel £7.5m, Found £5m, Russiam Emperor £4.9m, Magical £4.9m…
In fact, 49 of his kids have gone onto make more than £1m racing and his last ever colt was sold for over £1m in April.
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Every stallion for ever more will be compared to Galileo.
But City Of Troy could have one distinct USP over the rest should connections choose to pursue it.
The answer is in the dirt.
City Of Troy is by Justify, the undefeated Triple Crown-winning American superstar.
Coolmore, the breeding operation run by Magnier and Co, purchased his stallion rights for a rumoured $60m - around £47m in today's money, or around 20 times more than he made racing.
It's clear they want to conquer America as well and see Justify as the horse to do it.
And that is why City Of Troy's ultimate goal could well be the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar on November 2.
Never has a horse won the Derby and the Classic in the same year.
Should he do the double - and almost certainly be retired soon after - then his prospect as a stallion would go through the roof.
As would Justify's, being the horse who started this new potential era of dominance on turf and dirt.
Of course to get anywhere near the magical £1bn figure then it would take years and years of proven success at stud in terms of fee, progeny earnings, sales price at auction, prize money won…
The list goes on and on.
And anyway, City Of Troy's route for the rest of the season is far from certain.
He's 4-7 for the Irish Derby over 1m4f on June 30 and 3-1 for the 1m2f Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on July 6.
The Travers at Saratoga - one of the springboards to Classic success - is run on dirt in late August and was touted as a potential by O'Brien in the heady aftermath of Derby glory.
He's 3-1 for that while, if turf is the route they choose, he's 4-1 for the Arc in October and, if they opt for the dirt, 8-1 for the Classic.
There are lots of options and he could of course stick to turf until making the Classic his swansong.
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Victory there would be some end to an incredible career on the track - and some start to his potential one at stud.
And one thing's for certain - the owners' bank managers will be absolutely loving it.
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