Aidan O’Brien has confirmed his intention to split his classic aces next spring, with Henry Longfellow unlikely to take on his esteemed stablemate City of Troy in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

While Henry Longfellow has done nothing wrong in winning each of his three juvenile starts, it was City Of Troy for whom O’Brien reserved the highest praise, stating after his Dewhurst success at Newmarket in October: “He is the best two-year-old we’ve trained, there’s no doubt.”