sport news Aidan O'Brien's despair as City of Troy flops and finishes ninth in the 2,000 ... trends now
The accolades for a brilliant winner would arrive in good time, but the story of the Qipco 2,000 Guineas centred on the apology.
‘Sorry about that, everyone,’ said Aidan O’Brien and it all felt very appropriate. Newmarket had been ablaze all day, a crowd of more than 15,000 tingling with expectation that City Of Troy might come up the Rowley Mile like a Formula One car would roar away from a family saloon.
Nobody was more hopeful than O’Brien, a trainer whose pre-race praise for the 4-6 favourite was liberal and lavish. His expression — startled and saddened — as he tried to fathom how City Of Troy had trailed in a slovenly ninth behind 16-1 shot Notable Speech spoke volumes.
‘He got upset in the stalls, which he had never done before,’ said O’Brien, which seemed curious as City Of Troy was last to load and did not seem unruly.
‘He was in the middle of the pace, but just flattened out. We’ll see. It’s almost too bad to be true, there’s no doubt about that.
Notable Speech (R) claimed a surprise victory in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket
‘Am I shocked? Of course, absolutely. We wouldn’t have been here if we thought he was going to do that, would we? Listen, that’s the way. It’s not his running, we’ll find out what was wrong. Everything was straight-forward with him. We’ll take it on the chin. We’ll try not to let it happen again.’
It is nothing new for an odds-on shot with a colossal reputation to be turned over in the 2,000 Guineas, but something about this felt different.
The moment Ryan Moore, his jockey, crouched a little lower and moved his elbows vigorously at halfway, you could hear expectation go pop.
None of this, though, should detract from what
