final furlong and won by four lengths from Dickens Hill, Bohemian Grove, Scorpio and The Bart. In July, Troy raced against older horses for the first time in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. His task was made easier by the absence of Ile de Bourbon, the 1978 winner, who was withdrawn after contracting a "virus". He started at odds of 2/5 with his main opposition looking likely to come from the French four-year-old Gay Mecene. Troy raced in fourth place before moving up to overtake Ela-Mana-Mou in the straight and held the late challenge of Gay Mecene to win by one and a half lengths, with Ela-Mana-Mou holding on to take third ahead of M-Lolshan. He became the fourth horse after Nijinsky, Grundy and The Minstrel to complete the Derby-Irish Derby-King George treble. His performance was described as "workmanlike" and "unspectacular" with Timeform commenting that he was almost certainly unsuited by the relatively slow early pace. At York in August, Troy was brought back in distance for the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup over ten and a half furlongs and started the 1/2 favourite. He appeared outpaced in the early stages and was ten lengths behind the leaders Lyphard's Wish and Crimson Beau with three furlongs left to run. He produced a sustained run in the straight to take the lead inside the final furlong and was eased down in the final strides to win by three quarters of a length from Crimson Beau. Autumn Troy's final race was the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse on 7 October. He started the 4/5 favourite in a field of twenty-two runners which included Top Ville, Le Marmot, Three Troikas, Fabulous Dancer, Ile de Bourbon, Trillion, Crimson Beau, Two of Diamonds and Northern Baby. He was not far behind the leaders on the final turn, but his usual finishing run failed to materialse, and although he made some progress in the closing stages and finished third behind Three Troikas and Le Marmot. Timeform commented that Troy had failed to reproduce his best form, speculating that he had not recovered from his hard race at York. Assessment and honours In the official International Classification for 1978, Troy was rated the tenth best two-year-old in Europe, seven pounds behind the top-rared Tromos. Troy was given a rating of 122 by the independent Timeform organisation, twelve pounds behind