‘I’m not sure we’ve ever sent a horse to the Derby with as much ability’ – Aidan O’Brien retains faith in City of Troy

O'Brien is eyeing a 10th success in the Flat showpiece next month and the Ballydoyle maestro still retains full faith in City Of Troy despite his English 2000 Guineas flop.

The Justify colt lost his unbeaten streak at Newmarket earlier this month when the 4/6 favourite could only muster ninth under Ryan Moore but O'Brien is adamant that he can bounce back to his best on June 1.

“Everything has been good since the Guineas. We just accepted that all these things just happened and went wrong on the day and we’ve decided to stay with the plan," O'Brien said today.

“He’s done nothing since to make us change the plan. The plan was always to start with the Guineas and go on to The Derby and then go wherever after that and that’s where we still are.

“Sometimes it happens and obviously it happened in the Guineas…Sometimes things don’t work and really I would always say that it’s my responsibility to make sure it works.

“And when it doesn’t work, well we’ve done our homework but maybe we didn’t do it all properly. That’s the way I would look at the Guineas.

“When he went down to the start he should have been relaxed but he went into the stalls and he was revved up. He wasn’t flustered but obviously his mind wasn’t in the right place.

“Because he’s a very good-natured horse – unusually good for a colt. He’s very calm and relaxed but it all just happened at the wrong few seconds.

“It will make it very interesting the next day. For us, I’m not sure we’ve ever sent a horse to The Derby with as much ability as this.

“If we can get him to come out of those gates and everything to work properly for him then we can have him in the right place.”

Despite misfiring last time out, City Of Troy is still the 7/2 joint-favourite for Derby with race sponsors Betfred (along with Charlie Appleby's Arabian Crown) and O'Brien has no concerns about whether the 1m4f trip will suit him.

The Tipperary-based trainer knows that there is “a weight of expectancy” on the three-year-old's shoulders but he is confident that he can get him back to his best when it matters most at Epsom – as he did last year with Auguste Rodin.

“At the Guineas, everyone was there to see City Of Troy and I apologised afterwards because I felt I didn’t have him prepared properly and expected too much of him," O'Brien added.

“It’s our job to have him prepared, to go to the races for Ryan to sit on and the horse has to be in the right frame of mind and fit enough.

“I felt we let Ryan down – he wouldn’t ever say that because he never blames anyone except himself – but that is what I would have felt.

“The Guineas was a let-down because we were all expecting. It just went against us and we have to accept that, move on and try to get back where we hoped we would be.

“If you are not open and honest, you can’t progress. If you don’t say what you feel, you can’t tweak things to make it better.”