Kyprios© Photo Healy Racing
Kyprios will be a warm order to cement his status as the world’s leading stayer by regaining his crown in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
Aidan O’Brien’s charge looked set to dominate the division for years to come after a faultless 2022 campaign which saw him win the Gold Cup, the Goodwood Cup, the Irish Leger and the Prix du Cadran, but a life-threatening injury suffered the following spring looked set to bring his career to an end.
His trainer felt it was a remarkable feat in itself that the six-year-old made it back to the track in the autumn.
And while defeats in this race and again on Champions Day at Ascot suggested his best days may be behind him, Kyprios has re-established himself as the staying king this term by winning a second Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup ahead of his return to home soil this weekend.
“I thought there was no chance in the world that he could come back, I don’t think anybody did, so it was incredible what the people around him did,” said O’Brien.
“We’re very happy with him, he’s in very good form. He’s a hard horse to read, as he’s very lazy and only does what he has to do, but he did look very good at Goodwood the last day.”
The Ballydoyle handler already has one eye on a potential third Gold Cup success at Royal Ascot next summer, adding: “That is what we’ll be dreaming about. It’s very hard to get a Gold Cup horse, as with those classy stayers, once you get past the two-and-a-quarter, very few get that far.
“He’s an unusual horse in that he’s a Group horse over a mile and a quarter, I’d say, but he gets two-and-a-half, which is very rare.”
The biggest threat to Kyprios appears to be Marco Botti’s Giavellotto, who has enjoyed back-to-back Group Two wins in Britain this season – landing the Yorkshire Cup at York’s Dante meeting in May and the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in July.
Botti feels his stable star has plenty in his favour at the Curragh on Sunday, but is under no illusions about the obstacle standing in his way.
“This has been the plan for a while and he seems in good order. The ground is hopefully not going to be too soft and it’s nice Oisin Murphy is able to ride him, as we don’t have to change a combination that has worked well so far this year,” said the Newmarket-based Italian.
“We freshened him up after Newmarket and he’s lightly-raced this year. He likes a bit of space between his races, so I don’t think that should be an issue.
“Kyprios is a very good horse and obviously it’s a strong race, but we knew that. Our horse seems to be in the same form he was before he won the Princess of Wales, so fingers crossed.”
The Willie Mullins-trained Vauban finished second to Giavellotto in the Yorkshire Cup and has since finished fourth in the Gold Cup, third in the Curragh Cup and won the Lonsdale Cup on his return to York last month.
Connections will be hoping for a positive showing to tee him up for a second tilt at the Melbourne Cup in November.
O’Brien has a second string to his bow in The Euphrates, while Giavellotto is joined on the trip across the Irish Sea by Karl Burke’s Al Qareem.
Adrian Murray’s Crypto Force and German raiders Waldadler and Nastaria complete the line-up.
