City Of Troy crumbled as Notable Speech burst into the big time with a runaway Qipco 2,000 Guineas triumph.
Pre-race hype centred around Aidan O'Brien's unbeaten favourite, at 4-6 the shortest-price since legendary 2011 winner Frankel.
Rated just 1lb shy of his juvenile peak, Newmarket racegoers were braced for the emergence of a potential superstar. And the race delivered, in surprise fashion, when 16-1 chance Notable Speech ripped up its script with William Buick steering.
Remarkably the two-time champion jockey had never previously won the opening Classic, suffering defeat with hotpot Pinatubo in 2020. There was a sense Godolphin-owned Notable Speech was the one he and top trainer Charlie Appleby – only eighth in last year's championship after a below-par season – were waiting for.
"He's an incredible horse," said Buick, whose mount was given an unusual prep with three wins on Kempton's all-weather surface.
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"I knew he had something in his armoury that none of the others had and that was his turn of foot. He's so instant. I can't ever remember riding a miler that had his pace. He went past them so easily."
A homebred son of Sheikh Mohammed's champion sire Dubawi, Notable Speech was the first horse since 1938 to score without having a single outing as a juvenile. The chestnut colt's weakness forced Appleby to be patient, however as the big race loomed he was becoming more optimistic by the day.
"We galloped him here and walked away with a bit of confidence," the Moulton Paddocks handler revealed.
William Buick celebrated his first win in the race (PA)"To be fair to William, he said had this horse been a pattern winner as a two-year-old you'd be coming in here thinking you were going to take on the world. He needed the time just to be a racehorse. Paul Eddery sat on him last week in a piece of work and said 'all I can say is if he gets a mile the favourite will have to be very good to beat him.'
Richard Hannon's Rosallion (15-2) was best of the rest in second, a length and a half behind, with a similar distance back to his third-placed stablemate Haatem (16-1).
Last to load in the 11-runner field, City Of Troy led early but was under strong pressure with three furlongs to run and faded into ninth. O'Brien's representative told the stewards their sole contender had become tired on his seasonal reappearance in a strongly run event.
The Ballydoyle trainer added: "It's not his run and we will see why that happened. He got upset in the stalls which was very unusual for him."
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