Could City Of Troy be the greatest O'Brien has ever trained?

Aidan O’Brien’s 4000 or so winners have included almost 100 British and Irish Classic winners, plus any number of cherished champions. But a truly all-conquering horse, one who transcends the sport, has eluded him.

That seems an absurd thing to say about a man who has guided the careers of revered stars such as Giant’s Causeway, Galileo, Hawk Wing, Dylan Thomas, Rock Of Gibraltar, Yeats, So You Think, Australia, Minding and Magical. It was not so long ago that he trained a mind-boggling 28 Group One winners in a single season.

But any debate about the greatest horses to have walked the earth rarely include any mention (if ever?) of Ballydoyle inmates. They are trailing at the back, somewhere among the also-rans forlornly raising their arms but melting into the background.

Maybe, just maybe, O’Brien now has the special one who could change all that. The missing link. The one who could smash the ceiling to smithereens.

The unbeaten City Of Troy, the dazzling Dewhurst winner, already stands out from the crowd. He’s a horse who gallops for fun and makes rivals look as if they are standing still.

He might just be the colt who emulates Nijinsky and fulfils the ambitions of his owners by becoming the first Triple Crown winner for more than half a century.

Some will yawn and suggest we have been here numerous times before.

But this time it feels different, at least to my eye. City Of Troy looks to have it all. He ticks every box. At least twice.

The dreaded “F” word, Frankel, has been mentioned. It's early days, of course, and I can't believe there will ever be another quite like him. But for once, there is some merit in the comparisons.

First came that debut at The Curragh on July 1 where his pre-race swagger was a precursor to a dominant performance that ended with Ryan Moore being unable to pull him up.

Just two weeks later, he popped over to Newmarket and thumped eight rivals by six-and-a-half lengths and upwards in the Group Two Superlative Stakes.

The runner-up, Haatem, would win the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood next time at the main expense of Iberian, who himself would go on to land the Champagne Stakes.

The National Stakes was skipped, with connections seemingly nervous about exposing City Of Troy to softish ground (plus they had Henry Longfellow up their sleeves), but they need not have worried to judge by the way he devoured conditions and galloped clear in the final furlong of the Dewhurst after bossing things from the outset.

None of the other six Group winners in the field could get near him and, like previously, City Of Troy was pouring it on at the finish without any hint of fatigue or growing bored of his task. The way he pounds rivals does have echoes of Frankel about it. There, I’ve said it.

And so has Michael Tabor. “This horse is our Frankel," the co-owner said in the winner's enclosure at Newmarket. “Let’s hope he is as popular as Frankel was but he’ll only get that popularity as time goes. Hopefully as time goes on he’ll win all the big races and the accolades will be given to him. I like to talk before the event and I really feel that this horse could be anything."

The son of Justify, out of Fillies' Mile winner Together Forever, herself a sister of Oaks winner Forever Together, is unlikely to get a giddy rating - he went into the Dewhurst rated 118 and was entitled to win by the margin he did - but he is a best-priced Evens for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas six months from now. There’s nothing bigger than 5/2 available about him landing the Derby and I’ve seen an offer of 10/1 about him scooping the Triple Crown. That quote caught my eye.

If (when) he wins the first two Classics, I think you can be certain he will head for the St Leger. The men who own him, who seem to be running out of names for their horses (they had a City Of Troy back in 2005 and 2006), have long craved the elusive treble.

What about Air Force Blue, a colleague chimed when I suggested City Of Troy might be the one who could take O’Brien to the greatest heights he has known.

That colt signed off 2015 with three successive Group One wins after a defeat at Royal Ascot and was a hot favourite for the Guineas, but he never trained on and suffered from breathing issues. He didn’t have anything like City Of Troy’s wow factor. I’m not rising to his bait.

O’Brien showers praise on all his horses. He has done for years. And if they run badly, he usually blames himself. It’s always been his way, which is handy when there are prospective stallions and broodmares to promote.

I don’t usually pay too much attention to his compliments but what struck me when Lydia Hislop interviewed him today was just how much he smiled. He couldn’t stop smiling. They say actions speak a thousand times louder than words, don’t they? It was great to see such unbridled joy in someone who has already achieved so much.

O’Brien used about a thousand words to outline City Of Troy’s many virtues.

He described him as the most exciting of his eight Dewhurst winners and came up with a memorable quote about the tacky going. “You need tractor tyres in that ground,” he suggested. “He doesn’t have tractor tyres, he has grand prix tyres and a jet engine.

“We accepted he could get beat, but that it wouldn’t be the end of the world. This gives us great insight for next year [in terms of the ground and more].”

And here’s at least ten more things he said about him:

1 We’ve never had a horse like this. He’s very unusual. Unique.

2 He’s a beautiful mover – good ground is what he really wants (not the deep, tacky ground he encountered].

3 He has an unbelievable cruising pace.

4 We’ve never had a horse we’ve never seen the end of. We’ve yet to see the end with him.

5 He never gets tired in his work – he always runs out, across the line over the hill. You always see the bottom somewhere, but we haven’t seen it with this fella.

6 He doesn’t look a big horse, but when you stand into him he’s all there. There’s plenty of size and he’s so well proportioned. I think that’s where his big, long stride comes from. There’s great power in his stride.

7 I would imagine there is no boundary to his stamina. His Dad won a Belmont, his mum won an Oaks.

8 He has a beautiful mind.

9 He’s very clear winded.

10 He’s very genuine.

11 And, in case anybody missed it the first time . . . he just doesn’t get tired.

Let’s hope City Of Troy avoids banana skins and ill fortune. He might just be the greatest horse O’Bien has trained. Or ever will train.