City Of Troy on the drift for Derby as stablemate Los Angeles joins him as favourite

Last season's star two-year-old City Of Troy has been a big drifter for Saturday's Betfred Derby over the past 24 hours and can now be backed at as big as 3-1 with William Hill, who have also cut the unbeaten Los Angeles to the same price as he joins his stablemate at the head of the market.

City Of Troy has had a rollercoaster journey in the Derby market. He was a short-priced favourite all winter following an impressive win in the Dewhurst, but a poor run when sent off odds-on for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket forced firms to push him out to as big as 8-1.

Due to various flops, injuries and absentees, City Of Troy was into a best-priced 2-1 last week and looked sure to go off favourite, but sustained support for Los Angeles and Ancient Wisdom in recent days mean his favouritism is under threat.

Spokesperson for William Hill, Lee Phelps, said: "After all the rain they've had at Epsom in the past week, it's no surprise that punters are looking for soft-ground Derby horses. Just like the rain, money has started to pour in for Los Angeles, a Group 1 winner on very soft ground as a two-year-old, and we have him into 3-1 from 7-1.

"His Ballydoyle stablemate City Of Troy, on the other hand, has been weak in the market, so we've pushed him out from 5-2 to 3-1. At this rate, he might not even go off favourite.

"Elsewhere, Ancient Wisdom, himself a proven performer on deeper going, has been very popular. He was as big as 16-1 after his Dante disappointment but has been smashed into 9-2 from 12-1 in recent days as it looks like he'll get his favoured slower going at Epsom on Saturday."

Ladbrokes and Coral have also pushed City Of Troy out to 11-4 from 9-4 and Ladbrokes Coral PR director Simon Clare said: “We were keen to take him on anyway, given how poorly he ran in the Guineas, and the market today has moved in favour of his stablemate Los Angeles (4-1 from 9-2) and Ancient Wisdom (5-1 from 13-2). 

“City Of Troy is not proving popular at all. We're not seeing any money for him and it’s Tuesday. If the money keeps coming for Los Angeles and Ancient Wisdom he will continue to drift. The next few days will be fascinating as we have yet to see any betting that suggests there’s confidence in City Of Troy.”

Betfred Derby (4.30 Epsom, Saturday)

William Hill: 3-1 City Of Troy, Los Angeles, 4-1 Ancient Wisdom, 6 Ambiente Friendly, 12 Dancing Gemini, 16 Macduff, 20 Deira Mile, 25 Bellum Justum, Diego Velazquez, 33 bar

Read these next:

City Of Troy and Los Angeles to be joined by 50-1 outsider as Aidan O'Brien readies three-strong Derby team 

How City Of Troy has gone from Guineas disaster to short-priced favourite for the Derby 

Los Angeles: the unbeaten colt who could be the star in the Derby for Aidan O'Brien 

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