Aidan O'Brien's City of Troy sealed an elusive double on Saturday, adding the Eclipse Stakes to last month's Epsom Derby triumph.
The 1-4 favourite produced a workmanlike rather than dazzling performance over this shorter 2000m trip and on softer ground than he would have preferred.
But with Ryan Moore on board, he had enough up his sleeve to hold off the strong finishing Al Riffa, trained by O'Brien's son, Joseph, by one length.
The last horse to achieve the Epsom Derby-Eclipse double in the same season was Golden Horn in 2015, with City of Troy only the 11th in history to do so.
Given the unsuitable conditions underfoot O'Brien and his star colt's owners, the Coolmore breeding operation, had to think long and hard before allowing last year's champion two-year-old to take his chance.
"It would have been easy to take him out and it was a long discussion before we ran," said O'Brien.
"He is a beautiful, good ground horse and a real fast-ground mover so he has won today despite the ground. It was proper soft ground today, softer than when he won the Dewhurst last season.
"It was tough today and it was specialist ground. It didn't really go according to plan but in the end I think he won pretty easily."
