City Of Troy's defeat leaves Derby picture wide open but Epsom options still look bountiful for O'Brien
After so much talk about City Of Troy potentially being Coolmore’s Frankel this year, suddenly it is Coolmore’s great rivals Godolphin who seem to hold all the aces when it comes to the three-year-old colts' division.
City Of Troy was awful in the 2,000 Guineas, although then again so was Auguste Rodin in the race 12 months ago. Aidan O’Brien resurrected him to win the Derby, so for now we should park any talk of City Of Troy not having trained on. Bookmakers are clearly mindful of what happened last year in offering no bigger than 8-1 for what would have to rate a fairly unlikely revival at Epsom.
O’Brien’s other Derby options – the likes of Henry Longfellow, Grosvenor Square, Diego Velazquez and this column's poke, Los Angeles – are surely now firmly in the reckoning, but Charlie Appleby has the new favourite in Arabian Crown and another realistic contender in Ancient Wisdom.
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