Pat Day Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Just a few days removed from his 70th birthday, Pat Day joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to talk his career, what he's been up to since retiring in 2005 and, most of all, the Breeders' Cup. Day rode Wild Again to victory in the inaugural GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 1984 and it was an historic win that helped turn the future Hall of Famer into one of the biggest stars in the sport. Day was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“What that race meant for my career was monumental,” Day said. “First of all, let me back up. In January of 84, that was when I came to Christ. I was a stone alcoholic and a drug addict and was still highly successful in the midst of that. On January 27th of 1984, I accepted Christ into my life and got set free from that addictive lifestyle. I recognized that God had blessed me with tremendous talent and ability and opportunities and I started treating that with the respect that it deserved. Subsequently, I had an incredible year capped by the victory with Wild Again in the inaugural Breeders' Cup. That helped secure my first of four Eclipse Awards. I don't know that you could put a price on just what that did for my career. It was tremendous and catapulted me to the next level. I started getting opportunities after that to participate in the major races all over the country and to ride some of the top choices in those races.

If the Wild Again win was Day's top Breeders' Cup moment, his loss to Sunday Silence aboard Easy Goer in the 1989 Classic was surely his worst.

“When they came off the turn, Easy Goer was slow to change leads,” Day said. “He finally did. When he did, he caught on and accelerated, but obviously it was too little, too late. There was just so much hanging in the balance. The Eclipse Award for top 3-year-old. Horse of the Year. There were some tremendous accolades that hung in the balance. That Breeders' Cup was hard and the second hardest pill to swallow with him would have been the Preakness. I think I rode a horrible race and I think that I cost him the race in the Preakness. Easy Goer was a great horse. The best I ever rode. I know the record doesn't reflect it but I still think he was better than Sunday Silence.”

Who was his toughest opponent?

“Day in and day out, the smartest, strongest rider I rode against on a regular basis was Jerry Bailey,” Day said. “He would draw up a game plan and he was able to implement that game plan just about every time.”

Who was the most competitive rider he ever went up against?

“With that subject, Angel Cordero's name always comes up,” he said. “We would laughingly say he could ride two or three horses in a race. Angel, I love you, man. He was an astute handicapper. And if he handicapped the race and he felt that you had the horse to beat, he was going to beat you. He felt like if he beat you he would win the race. He was very competitive.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by 1/ST Racing, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, WinStar Farm, the KTOB, XBTV and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley discussed Frankie Dettori's decision to postpone his retirement and focus on U.S. racing in 2024 and the GI Kentucky Derby. The team agreed that Dettori, who has been riding in top form this year, deserved at least one more year. Finley predicted he might decide to keep riding for two or three more years. They also reviewed last week's action which included a win by European shipper Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the GI Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland and the ultra-impressive win by City of Troy (Justify) in the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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The Best Since Frankel? What The Ratings Say About City Of Troy

We can believe what our eyes are telling us. That was the verdict from Timeform on Monday, with the ratings gurus placing City Of Troy a joint second in terms of winning performances posted in the Dewhurst this century. 

The one horse rated higher than Aidan O'Brien's bright young star? You guessed it, the mighty Frankel, who those closest to City Of Troy drew parallels with after that stunning victory at Newmarket on Saturday. 

“He really is our Frankel,” said Michael Tabor, one of the part-owners in City Of Troy after the Dewhurst demolition. 

“I know the way Aidan speaks. We're all optimists, but this horse is special. No question, he's the real deal.”

He added, “That's what we feel at this moment. Maybe down the line we'll have egg on our face, but I like to talk before the event and I really feel this horse could be anything.”

High praise indeed. It seems as though Tabor was not alone in his summarisation of the performance with Timeform rating City Of Troy 125p. 

That puts him alongside Pinatubo, Teofilo and New Approach for what they achieved in their respective Dewhurst victories. Meanwhile, Frankel achieved a rating of 126 for his Dewhurst triumph in 2010.

City Of Troy has raced just three times and remains unbeaten after pulling over three lengths clear of the 107-rated Alyanaabi in the Group 1 contest. 

The bookmakers were suitably impressed and slashed City Of Troy into even-money favouritism for next year's 2,000 Guineas. Not only that, but he is now just 5-2 to win the Derby, while some firms are quoting odds of 10-1 for City Of Troy to do what no horse has done since Nijinsky in 1970 by winning the Triple Crown. 

To provide further context to what the figures suggests City Of Troy achieved on Saturday, horses like Too Darn Hot, Shamardal [124 apiece], Rock Of Gibraltar, Air Force Blue [123 apiece], Sir Percy and Dawn Approach [122 apiece] were all rated behind him. 

The best since Frankel is how many key industry figures labelled City Of Troy after Saturday. The ratings would suggest the same.

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Traces of Frankel as City Of Troy Rules Old Rowley

NEWMARKET, UK–Friday's biblical rains had cleared by the early hours of Saturday to ensure City Of Troy's coronation was brightly lit against the big East Anglian sky. And make no mistake, however good Vandeek had been across most of the same turf just a fortnight earlier, this was the two-year-old performance of the year.

Across the Devil's Dyke, City Of Troy had already stormed the July Course to take the Superlative S. in imperious fashion, with braking the only problem for Ryan Moore as he attempted to pull up the young son of Justify. More superlatives were needed after the Dewhurst, and co-owner Michael Tabor perhaps had the most enticing of them when he said, “I really think he is our Frankel.” No pressure then.

City Of Troy did actually win the Dewhurst by a wider margin than Frankel did 13 years ago, and though not physically imposing in stature, he has that ease and length of stride that sets him apart from other decent colts in his class. As if to emphasise his athleticism, he delivered a flying change just shy of the winning line, but that was really his only nod towards flamboyance. In the parade rings, and walking in to greet his public, City Of Troy was a model, almost meek, pupil. A professional mindset to match his moves. 

He is of course by a Triple Crown winner of the American variety and, let's face it, it's high time we had another one of our own on these shores. MV Magnier wasted no time in uttering the words that some of us still want to hear. With the 2,000 Guineas already being regarded as a shoo-in for City Of Troy, and most bookmakers offering evens about his chances back in Newmarket next May, talk turned to the Derby.

“It's what everyone wants to do,” said Magnier. “It's all about the Derby, it's all about the Triple Crown.”

He went on to outline the positive pedigree elements that point towards City Of Troy at least being able to get the trip at Epsom: his sire won the Belmont over 1m4f, while his dam, Together Forever, boasting that rather special Derby winner Galileo as her sire, and a winner of the G1 Fillies' Mile herself, is also a sister to the Oaks winner Forever Together.

He added, “Put it this way, we won't stop trying to win the Triple Crown.”

These are not empty words. There is little doubt that had Auguste Rodin not flopped in the Guineas he would have made an assault on the St Leger after winning the Derby. Instead Aidan O'Brien won the latter with Continuous, while Auguste Rodin's season consisted of a different triple of the Derby, Irish Derby and Irish Champion S. 

Before we get too carried away, the Derby is still more than seven months in the future. And there were other pretensions made towards that race at Newmarket on Saturday with two impressive performances from runners trained by Charlie Appleby, whose stable appears to be returning to the form we have become accustomed to seeing. Both sons of Dubawi, Ancient Wisdom took the G3 Autumn S., followed by a third victory this season for Arabian Crown, in the G3 Zetland S.

Overlooking the anomaly that was a 10-year-old hurdler winning the Cesarewitch on Dubai Future Champions Day, Saturday really did feel all about next spring, which is a heartening prospect as the wind starts to blow colder across Newmarket Heath.

For three wonderful years in Newmarket we had Frankel to warm the cockles. It is scarcely believable that he's already been gone for more than a decade, through his prowess at stud means that he will never be forgotten. 

What now for City Of Troy?

“Let's hope he is as popular as Frankel was,” said Tabor. “He will only get that popularity as time goes on. And hopefully, as time goes on, he will win all those big races and get those accolades given to him. It is easy to talk. But I like to talk before they achieve and that is what we believe.

“Maybe down the line we will have egg on our face. But I really believe it: this horse could be anything.”

The frailties of the Thoroughbred have indeed left many a bold predictor looking foolish. But for now at least, the eyes don't deceive, and we too can believe.

 

 

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Justify’s City Of Troy Outclasses Dewhurst Opposition

Assuaging any and all fears presented by softened conditions, Coolmore's impressive G2 Superlative S. victor City Of Troy (Justify–Together Forever {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) set the seal on European  champion juvenile status with a performance brimming with pure brilliance in Saturday's G1 Native Trail's Dewhurst S. at Newmarket.

The 'TDN Rising Star' was the sharpest of eight into stride and floated along on the lead through halfway. Committed by Ryan Moore when stirred into action approaching the quarter-mile marker, the 8-15 favourite lengthened clear in effortless fashion to take an insurmountable buffer into the final furlong and moved like a tremendous machine on the ascent to hit the line strong with a 3 1/2-length advantage back to G3 Somerville Tattersall S. winner Alyanaabi (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}). Fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Eben Shaddad (Calyx {GB}) performed with credit on unsuitable ground and finished one length adrift in third. The success provided Aidan O'Brien with a record-equalling eighth victory in the seven-furlong contest.

 

 

Saturday, Newmarket, Britain
NATIVE TRAIL'S DEWHURST S.-G1, £528,750, Newmarket, 10-14, 2yo, 7fT, 1:24.85, sf.
1–CITY OF TROY, 129, c, 2, by Justify
1st Dam: Together Forever (Ire) (G1SW-Eng & SW-Ire, $318,729), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Green Room, by Theatrical (Ire)
3rd Dam: Chain Fern, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. TDN Rising Star. O-Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (KY); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £299,854. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $451,293. *1/2 to Military Style (War Front), GSW-Ire; Absolute Ruler (War Front), GSP-Ire; and King Of Athens (War Front), SP-Ire. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Alyanaabi (Ire), 129, c, 2, Too Darn Hot (GB)–Alyamaama, by Kitten's Joy. 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Shadwell Estate Company Ltd (IRE); T-Owen Burrows. £113,681.
3–Eben Shaddad, 129, c, 2, Calyx (GB)–Galileo's Lady, by Galileo (Ire). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. TDN Rising Star. ($100,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; €190,000 2yo '23 ARQMAY). O-HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled & Najd Stud; B-Charles Fipke (KY); T-John & Thady Gosden. £56,894.
Margins: 3HF, 1, 1HF. Odds: Scratched: 0.53, 6.00, 25.00.
Also Ran: Henry Adams (Ire), Haatem (Ire), Iberian (Ire), Array (Ire), Indian Run (Ire).

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