Racing

City Of Troy and Laurel River share world’s best horse honours

Aidan O’Brien’s Derby hero ranked alongside Dubai World Cup winner in annual awards

Ryan Moore riding City Of Troy (right, navy blue) to win the Juddmonte International Stakes at York racecourse in August. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
Ryan Moore riding City Of Troy (right, navy blue) to win the Juddmonte International Stakes at York racecourse in August. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
Tue Jan 21 2025 - 18:52

City Of Troy shared top spot in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2024 alongside Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River.

Aidan O’Brien hailed the son of Justify as the best he had ever trained following victories in the Betfred Derby, the Coral-Eclipse and the Juddmonte International.

Having powered home to Classic success at Epsom, he was more workmanlike at Sandown but then dominated York’s showpiece event, making all to see off Calandagan and earn a mark of 128.

Speaking at The Savoy in London, regular pilot Ryan Moore commented: “The Derby is always special and that was a great day, that’s what he was bred to do and that’s what Aidan always believed he’d do and everyone always thought he could.

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“But when he won the Juddmonte it was probably the best performance that I’d ever been involved with on a racehorse, he was very good that day, it was an exceptional performance and I was a little bit gutted that we didn’t get to see him again [in Europe], but he couldn’t have been any better that day.

“He was different from the first day I rode him at the Curragh. Obviously, we had the blip in the Guineas but apart from that, he always gave me that feel. Once he got into his rhythm, he was very hard to stop – he was relentless and a brilliant racehorse.”

For the first time since 2019, when Crystal Ocean, Enable and Waldgeist were co-winners, there was a tie at the top of the table.

While City Of Troy reigned supreme on turf before disappointing on dirt in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Laurel River made his mark on an artificial surface at Meydan in the opening three months of the year.

Trained by Bhupat Seemar and owned by Juddmonte, he followed up a couple of Group Three wins with a spectacular triumph in the Dubai World Cup, accounting for Ushba Tesoro of Japan and American ace Senor Buscador by more than eight lengths.

Despite not being seen again after that dazzling display at the end of March, the son of Into Mischief had done enough to stay at the summit.

Juddmonte chief executive Douglas Erskine Crum said: “The most important thing probably about this horse is that he is one of the last homebred horses that Prince Khalid [Abdullah] decided the mating, so it’s particularly important for us.”

Via Sistina fared best of the fillies and mares in third on 127, thanks mainly to a wide-margin victory in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

That was one of five Group One strikes for Chris Waller’s charge during the calendar year, with other elite-level scores coming in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill, Randwick’s Winx Stakes and the TAB-sponsored Turnbull Stakes and Champions Stakes, both at Flemington.

A stunning 25-1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes defeat of subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Bluestocking and multiple Group One winner Rebel’s Romance saw Goliath finish fourth on 126.

Calandagan, Breeders’ Cup Classic star Sierra Leone, fellow American ace Fierceness, Japan Cup hero Do Deuce and Hong Kong star Romantic Warrior were all tied for fifth on 125, while Roger Varian’s champion miler Charyn completed the top 10 on 124.

Frankel, who topped the ratings twice in 2011 and 2012, and 2022 leader Flightline remain the highest-ranked winners of this award, having both achieved a towering mark of 140 at the peak of their powers.