Racing needs to build on Starmer's positive early signals - which means not bringing a former Tory MP to the BHA
If a week is a long time in politics, two minutes, nine and a bit seconds must have felt like an eternity to anyone who lumped on City Of Troy at 1-4 in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse.
The Derby winner delivered a victory that was gritty, not pretty. Ryan Moore thought he would win by ten lengths, while John Magnier admitted he forecast a much more impressive dismissal of opponents who would have combined to make a worryingly substandard field had the Coolmore partners not put ground concerns to one side and permitted their inordinately valuable athlete to lay his reputation on the line.
If that all sounds a bit harsh, it's only because so much is expected of City Of Troy. As a juvenile he was billed as "our Frankel" by Michael Tabor, and at that point there was every justification to believe that, at the very least, the champion two-year-old could progress to become the best horse ever trained by Aidan O'Brien.
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Published on inLee Mottershead
Last updated
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- British racing's leaders past and present have spoken with one voice - there must be change
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- No-one has ever emerged from the womb wearing a trilby - racing's future survival hangs on pursuing a young audience
- Restrictions and the black market: surely the time has come for bookmakers to confront the link between them
- Plummeting betting turnover leaves British racing in a precarious state - whatever the sales numbers might suggest
- British racing's leaders past and present have spoken with one voice - there must be change
- A prime minister who likes racing and a bet can be only a good thing - just like Aidan O'Brien's transparency