Kyprios became the first horse since Kayf Tara in 2000 to regain the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot with a determined display under Ryan Moore.
The winner in 2022 but forced to miss last year’s race after suffering an infection in a fetlock joint, Kyprios, the 11-10 favorite, stormed back to his best, becoming a record ninth winner of Royal Ascot’s famous staying race for trainer Aidan O’Brien.
The 6-year-old showed all his class and battling qualities as he triumphed in a thrilling home-straight duel with John and Thady Gosden’s Trawlerman, who had been his conqueror in Ascot’s British Champions Long Distance Cup in October.
There was a length between the pair at the line, with Trawlerman’s stable-mate Sweet William staying on past Vauban to finish third, five lengths further back.
On how unusual it is for a horse to come back after the problem Kyprios had, O’Brien said, “I’d say it is millions to one. It was really impossible to come back from what he came back from. At one stage we weren’t sure he would live. This horse has got back to the very top level, which is just incredible.
“It’s unbelievable really – it shouldn’t have happened, I don’t know how it happened, but I think it happened because of all the people who have been around him and done so much day in, day out – they have been so committed, they communicated so well, everyone put him first. There’s so many people, it’s incredible.
“He got an infection in his joint, and it got into the joint capsule,” O’Brien continued. “Usually what happens is that they lose the movement in the joint, and for a while he did, but it came back. It’s from the care that they all took to get him back. It’s incredible.
“At one stage, it didn’t look like he was going to live. Then it was getting him to stand, and then to walk, then to trot, then teaching him how to canter again, because he had to move all his body in different ways again. It was incredible, it’s unbelievable really. He always had the most incredible mind, that was always his power probably, was his mind.”
On jockey Ryan Moore, O’Brien said: “Every year Ryan rides, he gets better. Every year he has ridden for us, he gets better. He is the complete package and puts it all in, in every way. He is so committed, so straight, so loyal, so dedicated, such an athlete. And every year, he improves. He’s only 40 now, and he will definitely keep getting better well into his mid-40s the way he is going.
“Ryan gave him an unbelievable ride. Incredible. It wasn’t easy. The second horse passed him here last year, and the second horse came back at him. I could see Ryan biding his time, and he went there and went there. … It’s incredible, it’s masterful stuff, really. It’s not simple, it’s incredible. An incredible horse and I’m so delighted for everybody. There’s an unbelievable team around him that make it happen.”
Moore said, “It was smooth early. That’s where I wanted to be, but then the filly (Caius Chorister) ran off with Benoit (de la Sayette). I was having to go round herm and Kyprios started traveling a bit too well too early.
“I got there going very easy. I said to Aidan that he’s the class horse in the race and he stays the best, so I’ve just got to get it right. I didn’t get it quite right but he still won. He’s an unbelievable horse. Aidan knows exactly what they need to do, he knows how to get them here better than anyone.
“It is lovely to ride a horse like this.”