White Birch rules out leaving City Of Troy as a main favourite

After leading rival White Birch was ruled out, City Of Troy is now the favourite at 2-5 for Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse. The Derby winner had already been the market leader at 1-2 following his triumph at Epsom, but his odds were further reduced when it was announced that Tattersalls Gold Cup winner White Birch would not be competing at Sandown due to concerns with a blood test result.

With White Birch out of the running, Roger Teal’s Dancing Gemini and Clive Cox’s Ghostwriter are now joint second-favourites at 7-1.

Coral’s David Stevens expressed disappointment at White Birch’s absence, noting that he would have been City Of Troy’s main challenger. However, Teal's team sees this as an opportunity to close the gap with the Derby winner at Sandown.

Teal acknowledged the calibre of City Of Troy and Aidan O’Brien’s confidence in him, but remains hopeful that Dancing Gemini can give a strong performance and make up for their finish at Epsom.

Despite the setback, Teal praised his team for consistently finding talented horses and expressed optimism for a good showing at the Coral-Eclipse.