City Of Troy and Arabian Crown were disputing Betfred Derby favouritism on Tuesday, 51 colts held firm for the premier Classic on Tuesday.
The markets seem to have taken note of Aidan O'Brien's assertion that he felt he had left City of Troy too fresh, which ultimately proved to be his downfall in the 2000 Guineas, where he only managed to beat two horses home.
The fact that O'Brien mounted an incredible training effort to rescue Auguste Rodin from a similar defeat in the Guineas the previous year and go on to win the Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf, two Derbys, has also contributed to this.
Coral has lowered the price of the Justify colt to 4-1 and has moved City of Troy, who was only defeated on his two-year-old debut and was most recently seen winning the Sandown Classic Trial, to a 4-1 joint favourite with Charlie Appleby's Arabian Crown.
“We only eased City Of Troy out to 6-1 for the Derby despite his hugely disappointing 2000 Guineas run, as we saw last year how his trainer can win at Epsom with a colt well beaten at Newmarket, and it seems punters are willing to forgive him that performance, as he’s once again at the head of the Classic betting, albeit for now he shares that position,” said Coral’s David Stevens.
William Hill also reported the money for the top juvenile from the previous year, dropping him from 6-1 to 9-2. Arabian Crown is now their 7-2 favourite.
A spokesperson for William Hill, Lee Phelps, said: “Although City Of Troy’s defeat in the Qipco 2000 Guineas was a shock, it seems like punters are in a forgiving mood, as we’ve seen significant support for the Ballydoyle charge in the Derby. We pushed him out to 6-1 straight after Newmarket, but that’s all gone now as he’s been backed into 9-2. It was only last year that Aidan O’Brien transformed Auguste Rodin from Guineas failure to Derby hero, and it seems people are backing the master of Ballydoyle to do it again after positive noises from the yard this week. Arabian Crown remains the 7-2 favourite, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for the big yards’ representatives in Chester and Lingfield’s trials this week, where Classic winners have shown their potential in previous years.”