As expected, the winner of the 2,000 Guineas here on Saturday remains unbeaten after four career starts. In many other respects, however, the first Classic of 2024 veered wildly off script, as Notable Speech, a 16-1 shot, beat Rosallion by a convincing length-and-a-half. City Of Troy, the most eagerly anticipated favourite for the race since Frankel in 2011, finished ninth of the 11 runners.
City Of Troy rode a wave of fevered expectation on to the Rowley Mile, having dispatched all opposition with remarkable ease in his unbeaten juvenile season. One bookmaker had him as short as 6-1 to complete the Triple Crown, but while he broke well from the stalls and disputed the lead to halfway, City Of Troy was a spent force soon afterwards as one rival after another breezed past and he dropped tamely through the field.
