Best horse Aidan O’Brien trained being shipped to Australia for cut price stud fee
City Of Troy, the Derby winner and joint best horse in the world in 2024 who is now a stallion, will shuttle down under where a mating will cost a fraction of what breeders were charged in Europe
The best horse Aidan O’Brien said he has ever trained is to spend time in Australia where he will be offered as a stallion for a cut price stud fee.
City Of Troy was retired as a three-year-old at the end of last year with a record of six wins from eight starts, which included victories in the Dewhurst Stakes, Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International. The son of US Triple Crown winner Justify’s campaign ended on a disappointing note when he finished eighth of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Class on dirt, a surface his trainer had been confident the colt would adapt to.
Nevertheless he was officially recognised as the best horse in the world last year by international handicappers, an accolade he shared with Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River.
City Of Troy was retired to Coolmore Stud in Ireland with earnings of £2.4m and O'Brien declaring: "He's definitely the best we've ever trained, no doubt about it."
His owners made him available for a stud fee of £62,000, yet five months later Coolmore announced he will shuttle to Australia for part of the year where breeders will be charged a fraction of his European price for a mating, with the fee set at £24,000.
Coolmore Australia’s Colm Santry told www.coolmore.com: “We are so excited to stand City Of Troy and offer him to Australasian breeders.
“Aidan O’Brien always considered him to be one of the best horses he has ever trained, while Ryan Moore also ranks him as the best he’s ridden.
“He was an incredibly classy horse with a high cruising speed, as we saw so impressively in his three runs at two which he won by an aggregate margin of more than 12 lengths.
“He is by far the best son of Justify with an impeccable Danehill-free pedigree that makes him suitable to all the dominant bloodlines in this part of the world.
“His unbelievable accomplishments on the track saw him become the only horse other than Frankel to receive the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt and the Cartier Horse Of The Year accolade in successive years.
“This is a horse with very rare ability and he’s out of a Group One-winning two-year-old by Galileo, so given how well the shuttle stallions are performing in Australia at present, he’s a very exciting addition to our stallion ranks.”