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| Staff Writer |
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York’s CEO, William Derby, is eagerly anticipating the showdown between last year's Japanese St Leger champion, Durezza, and City Of Troy in what is expected to be an exciting edition of the Juddmonte International.
Aidan O’Brien is inclined to keep the Derby and Eclipse winner competing at 10 furlongs, making the prestigious race at York on August 21 the likely target for City Of Troy.
Adding intrigue to the event, Durezza emerges as a compelling new challenger, with Christophe Lemaire set to ride the Japanese champion.
“We’re obviously delighted to hear the news from Ballydoyle that City Of Troy is likely to run in the Juddmonte International – obviously there’s a long way to go with horses, but to have Europe’s highest-rated 3YO being aimed at our flagship race is great,” said Derby.
“We have a record prize fund this year of £1.2million and it’s hugely exciting, it’s looking like an absolute cracker.
“City Of Troy has that mercurial potential to join the likes of Sea The Stars and Frankel, two of the great winners of the race. We all saw what he did in the Betfred Derby, he obviously wasn’t on a going day in the Guineas, but he won the Eclipse like Sea The Stars did ahead of coming to the Knavesmire and it will be fascinating to see how he performs if he comes.
“It has also been confirmed this morning that Durezza, who won the Japanese St Leger last year, is heading our way with Christophe Lemaire due to ride him, so to have the best two jockeys in the world in Christophe and Ryan Moore taking each other on is something very exciting for us and all race fans.”
Derby has been at the helm at York for over 20 years now, and has seen some great renewals of the race.
“My first Juddmonte was 2003, Falbrav won it and then in 2005 Electrocutionist just touched of Zenno Rob Roy, he was the last Grade One winner from Japan we had and Electrocutionist went on to win the Dubai World Cup the following March,” he said.
“It was the world’s highest-rated race with Frankel in 2012 and again with Ghaiyyath in 2020 and a top 10 race last year. It’s our flagship race, the best we stage and the richest so we’re delighted City Of Troy and Durezza have it on their radar.
He added: “Ticket sales are good for the Sky Bet Ebor Festival, we’re really looking forward to it. We’re putting finishing touches to our southern end development which was soft launched at the John Smith’s Cup meeting and the feedback was positive.”