Betfred Derby: Aidan O'Brien on City Of Troy and his other entries

Aidan O'Brien is dreaming again of winning the Betfred Derby with the son of Justify despite that blowout at Newmarket which ended talk of the Triple Crown at the first hurdle, and had some questioning whether the colt had even trained on.

“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," the trainer said.

“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 as you can see – 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.”

City Of Troy won three times over seven furlongs as a two-year-old, before his disappointing run over a mile in the first Classic of the season. However, O’Brien has no concerns about stepping him up to a mile and a half next month.

He said: “I never thought any trip was a problem for him. You’re never sure until you do it but he has a big, long stride and he’s usually very chilled and relaxed. It will be a very interesting race now.

“I suppose what he did last year – everything he was doing last year the statistics were adding up. His times, everything. He never disappointed us in any way.

“But we all know horseracing and we all know life – no one knows what’s going to happen in the next half hour. The Guineas just wasn’t meant to be. I feel like, myself, I hadn’t got him prepared properly, so what we would have learned in the Guineas will hopefully help us to prepare him properly for The Derby. He’s obviously by Justify, who won a Belmont and all the other races... one thing you cannot stop coming out in anything is pedigree so hopefully if he’s well we can have him in the right place.

"Nothing fell and it all went against us (in the Guineas) but we probably always knew that even though he’d won a Dewhurst and he’d only run over seven furlongs, we always knew he was going to be a middle distance horse.

“We saw his potential very early, before he ran at the Curragh. He was half-speeding over four furlongs with two-year-olds and his pedigree always said middle-distance, no doubt.

“City Of Troy has an unbelievable mind. There is a lot of Galileo in him in that he gallops with his head very low and out with a very long stride for not a very big horse. He is very well balanced.

“We video all our horses and when he is in his box he is the most alert horse – every little thing affects him.

“There is a weight of expectancy with him. 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. It’s our job to have him prepared, to go to the races for Ryan (Moore, jockey) 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. Everyone knows we do our best every day. If anyone has better ideas they are welcome to come here and join us!

“We have heart monitors, timing, weights, bloods and everything. When we are happy horses are in the right place mentally and physically, if all the other things add up you have a big chance. It’s hard to get all the ducks in a row and it has to be natural, you can’t force it.

“What you can’t measure is mind and determination and that is the most important thing – horse or human. Do they really want it?”

For any trainer defeats are par for the course, and high-profile ones go with the territory for O’Brien who has the full support of his yard's major owners.

He explained: “The lads are unbelievable because they take disappointment on the chin, that’s the truth. I suppose we’ve been doing it for 30 years now and, as you all know, an awful lot of stuff doesn’t happen.

“You have to believe that if you’re happy and you say what you’re thinking at the time – like we could be at home every day and not saying a thing and playing down everything every day. But that’s no good in life. Everyone has to know what we are really thinking or dreaming because every day is so important and we might not be here tomorrow, so there’s no point in keeping it all together today and going to the races, kind of thinking that something is going to happen that you’re not telling anybody else about.

“So we tell everybody our feelings and our dreams and get from today to tomorrow. Obviously when you get there sometimes it doesn’t happen, and we all think there’s a reason why it didn’t happen, we delved into what we thought the reason was. At the moment we’re back dreaming again."

City Of Troy was his yard's sole representative in the Guineas but is likely to have company on the flight to Surrey.

“We were very happy with Los Angeles on Sunday. The horse that made the running – that was the way it was going to suit him. Maybe we should have sat a bit closer to him if it had been a stronger race but Wayne (Lordan, jockey) was very happy with the horse.

“He’s a big relaxed horse. We always thought he would step up big time when he went to a mile and a half and we were very happy with the way that he won so he’s definitely a possible.

“He’s going to progress big time. I don’t know if you saw him on Sunday but he was carrying plenty too. He’s a big, burly horse. He has a big chance really.

“Capulet could go. There’s been a lot of interest in him from Hong Kong and all these places so it’s possible too. He was always a horse that was going to step up going to a mile and a quarter and we always thought he was going to step up even further if he went further. Ryan rode him positively.

“We went to the all-weather at Chelmsford. In case he was forward enough he would have gone to the Kentucky Derby but when we ran him he wasn’t forward enough and that’s why he went to Chester. Ryan was very happy with him. He’s got plenty of class, he’s lazy and finds plenty for pressure. He gave him a great ride too.

“Diego Velazquez is in both (Betfred Derby and French Derby). The reason for going to France was the lads were thinking of going to the French Derby and that’s right-handed. We could have gone to the Dante with him but we felt he wouldn’t have the experience if we decided to go to France so that was his reason.

“We thought if we finished in the first four in France then he would run a massive race in the French Derby but he has an option because he’s still in The Derby at Epsom as well. The lads will make that call as well. Christophe (Soumillon) rode him and he said he’s going to win a Group race very quickly, this horse, so he was very impressed with him."

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