Southwell Racecourse To Give Free Entry For Breeders’ Cup City Of Troy Gallop

Southwell racecourse will be rolling out the red carpet in September as the UK all-weather track will welcome one of the best racehorses on the planet – City Of Troy – for a course gallop before he heads off to the Breeders’ Cup Classic – and the great news is racing fans can watch it at the track for FREE. 

City Of Troy’s Southwell Racecourse Gallop Will Be FREE Entry

After winning the Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August, trainer Aidan O’Brien said that the next race for City Of Troy will be the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the US on November 2nd.

However, with this top America horse race run on the dirt and ALL of City Of Troy’s race wins coming on the grass, connections are keen to get a track gallop on a similar surface into their Epsom Derby winner.

With this in mind Aidan O’Brien has turned to the Nottingham track Southwell, where they now have a Tapeta all-weather surface (used to be fibresand), to get some much-needed experience into his Justify colt.

The City Of Troy Southwell racecourse gallop will be on Friday September 20th and the top news coming from the track is that all horse racing fans can watch this year’s Coral-Eclipse winner for FREE.

Those wanting to attend will just need to register for a free ticker beforehand, once all the final details are set in stone.

Southwell executive director Mark Clayton said recently. 

“We have decided that on September 20, everybody will be welcome to come and watch City Of Troy.

“We haven’t got the times yet of when he will gallop, but once we have that, we will release a statement with the relevant information.

“All of the public are welcome for free, they will just need to pre-register on our website.

“That is not live yet and until that is confirmed, we won’t be accepting bookings, but we are expecting arrangements to be confirmed ASAP, then it will go live on our website. We will look after everybody and what an occasion it will be for us.”

The best horse racing betting sites in the UK have City Of Troy down as one of the leading fancies to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. With US horse Fierceness and the Japan runner Forever Young next best in the market.

Aidan O’Brien Is No Stranger To Using Southwell Racecourse In The Past

City Of Troy also won’t be the first horse from the Aidan O’Brien camp to have a racecourse gallop at Southwell.

The Ballydoyle handler has also run past greats Galileo and Giant’s Causeway at the venue in preparation for a US journey.

Southwell are also hoping to attract another big Breeders’ Cup hope in Big Evs, who landed the 2023 Juvenile Turf Sprint at the meeting last year. The Mick Appleby speedster is also expected to be heading back to the US to run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic Is Expected To Be City Of Troy’s Last Ever Race

Despite having many Breeders’ Cup winners, trainer Aidan O’Brien never won the Breeders’ Cup Classic. However, in US-bred City Of Troy he’s got a leading chance of breaking his duck.

Having won over 1m4f, connections are expected to make full use of City Of Troy’s stamina over the shorter 1m2f trip and being sired by US Triple Crown winner Justify. So, winning big horse races in America runs his blood.

However, the bad news is that win, lose or draw, the Breeders’ Cup Classic is expected to be City Of Troy’s final race.

The horse is still a colt, so a lucrative spell at stud will be on the cards for City Of Troy after his US trip.

HIGHLY likely we will only see this horse on the track one more time pic.twitter.com/Sv1QHJQsU8

— AIDANOBRIENFANSITE (@aobrienfansite) September 4, 2024

City Of Troy Horse Profile and Stats

See below the City Of Troy horse profile, where he’s raced seven times – winning six. His only blot came when flopping in the 2024 2000 Guineas at Newmarket over 1m.

Note: All figures correct 5th Sept 2024

Has A European Horse Ever Won The Breeders’ Cup In America?

Yes, but there has only been two.

The most recent European-trained Breeders’ Cup Classic winner was Raven’s Pass in 2008 (watch below). The horse was trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori.

There have been NO winners of the race (yet) from Ireland, so City Of Troy would be the first.

While the other winner from Europe was in 1993 (Arcangues) trained in France by Andre Fabre.

Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic was won by White Abarrio (watch below)

WATCH: Raven’s Pass Winning The 2008 Breeders’ Cup Classic

When Is The Breeders’ Cup Classic?

📅Date: Saturday 2nd November 2024
🏇Racecourse: Del Mar, San Diego
💰Purse: $7m
📺 TV: Sky Sports Racing

Recent Breeders’ Cup Winners

WATCH: White Abarrio Winning The 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic