Ryan Moore lands the prestigious Coral-Eclipse alongside City of Troy but self-crictical jockey admits he got the ride wrong

The immediate reaction was to mutter misgivings. City Of Troy had just done something no other Aidan O’Brien Derby hero had managed to do, but jockey Ryan Moore admonished himself.

‘I had him in the wrong place and shouldn’t have come down the middle of the track,’ grumbled Moore, who is always ferociously self-critical.

Similarly nonplussed after racing’s new wonder horse had made heavy weather of landing the prestigious Coral-Eclipse was John Magnier, the supremo of owners Coolmore and one of the most powerful men in the sport.

City Of Troy went off a 1-4 chance, having arrived here on the back of a spellbinding performance in The Derby at Epsom last month. But he had just a length to spare over closest challenger Al Riffa at the line.

‘It wasn’t what we were expecting, to be honest,’ said Magnier, who was making his first visit to Sandown for 22 years to see his colt race over a mile-and-a-quarter for the first time in his career.

‘The year is long and we just want to see him run on a decent surface. But he has won and we are complaining. That shows you what we think about him. We want you to see what we see from him in the morning.’

There it was, the giveaway line. City Of Troy has been spoken about in the most remarkable tones for the past 12 months and those people around him, shrewd judges all, are adamant the engine that propels this handsome bay is like nothing they have had before.

So then you began to think a little deeper. Plenty would have anticipated that Moore would have dismantled his rivals without moving a muscle, but things do not work in that way with Group One racing.

City Of Troy had to take on talented rivals. Al Riffa is battle-hardened and a year older. Ghostwriter, who finished third, is held in the highest regard by Clive Cox, who trains the colt in Lambourn. Likewise, Roger Teal’s Dancing Gemini has ability.

This was absolutely not going to be an easy outing, particularly on a track that had been softened by an overnight deluge.

What the race turned out to be was totally absorbing and the essence of this sport. City Of Troy put his head down in the final furlong and galloped inexorably through the line. Al Riffa could have done another lap and would not have got past him.

‘I have been there [at Ballydoyle] and the times he does do not make sense,’ said Magnier. ‘He’s a natural racehorse. I’m not a social media man but we put a video out of him working the other day because it was unbelievable. We wanted everyone to see it. When he gets his ground, you’ll see it.’

The irony is that we might not have seen him in action here. O’Brien had never sent a Derby winner to contest the Eclipse, always favouring running Epsom heroes at The Curragh for the Irish equivalent. As soon as he arrived at Sandown yesterday, O’Brien walked the course and the squashy conditions left him anxious. Ultimately, he was relieved.

‘You wouldn’t have run him on that ground 15 years ago,’ said O’Brien.

‘It would have been easy for the lads to take him out but they wanted to run.’

And thank goodness they did. A bumper Sandown crowd was fully appreciative.