‘There’s a real sense of excitement’ – Southwell prepares to welcome City Of Toy

Pre-Breeders’ Cup gallop has captured the imagination.

Officials at Southwell are counting down to the much-anticipated arrival of City Of Troy for his pre-Breeders’ Cup Classic gallop on Friday.

Aidan O’Brien’s colt has gained a huge reputation throughout this career so far, and after a sole blip in the 2000 Guineas he has soared through the rest of the campaign to land a famous treble that includes the Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International.

Out of the Group-winning Galileo mare Together Forever and by American Triple Crown winner Justify, City Of Troy is beautifully bred with a pedigree that has been beckoning him towards a dirt surface.

City Of Troy winning the Derby
City Of Troy winning the Derby (Adam Davy/PA)

He will therefore head to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Classic in early November, with the Southwell gallop intended to introduce the world’s highest-rated turf horse to a synthetic surface ahead of his first run on dirt.

In excess of 1,500 people are expected to head to the Nottinghamshire course to watch the workout at 3.45pm, with the track opening bars and making use of their big screens to broadcast the off-course racing throughout the afternoon.

“There’s a real sense of excitement, it’s become almost like a raceday,” said John Holliday, clerk of the course at Southwell.

“We’ve got a lot of staff working, we’re expecting the (American) stalls to be delivered any second now. They’re bringing their own stalls and we’ve got several people staying in the hotel.

“We’re expecting 1,500, maybe a few more to be honest. We’ve got the bars open, the Tote open and we’ll be broadcasting the racing elsewhere throughout the afternoon.

“It certainly has captured people’s imaginations. It’s been quite a surprise just has much it has, it’s kind of developed its own head of steam.

“When it was first discussed we were only imagining a couple of hundred people would be here.

“It’s great because it gives us a connection to him, we’re excited to say we have played a small part in his career.”

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