City Of Troy takes form to next level to match Aidan O'Brien's best Juddmonte International winners on ratings

A cracking Juddmonte International Stakes saw City Of Troy take his form to the next level as the Derby winner saw off a record field at York, an improved Racing Post Rating of 129+ rating him alongside Australia and Giant's Causeway – Aidan O'Brien's best previous winners of the race – as above-average victors in the typically strong Group 1 contest.

City Of Troy's International figure has been bettered only by the exceptional Baaeed (136) and Ghaiyyath (131) in the past ten years, with Authorized (131, 2007) the only three-year-old to rate higher in the race this century. While it might not have been the performance to quite match his trainer's assertion that he's "the best horse I've trained", it is enough to see him take top spot on the season's leaderboard.

Ridden forward under pace-favouring conditions, plenty went right for City Of Troy, but with the field well stretched behind him in record time the form looks sound. The field may have lacked some star quality, City Of Troy excepted, but the pre-race median figure for the field of 121 rates right up with race standards.