- Kyprios completed a remarkable comeback by beating Trawlerman
- The 2022 winner missed the race last year with a life-threatening leg injury
- He prevailed by a length under Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O’Brien
Even by his own miraculous standards, this was different. Kyprios had just won his second Ascot Gold Cup at odds of 11-10 but, for Aidan O’Brien, a million-to-one shot had obliged.
It was not the fact Kyprios had become only the third horse in 217 years to regain the most prestigious race of the Royal meeting, emulating the achievement of Anticipation (1816 and 1819) and Kayf Tara (1998 and 2000) with a relentless display of galloping that had O’Brien delving for superlatives.
No, the very fact this powerhouse was here in Berkshire was a feat O’Brien needed to be at his most colourful to explain. Winning a Group One over two-and-a-half miles was one thing, winning a fight for life was something altogether more profound.
‘Listen,’ O’Brien added. ‘At one stage it didn’t look like he was going to live, so that tells you.’
Kyprios, ridden by the peerless Ryan Moore, had become O’Brien’s eighth Ascot Gold Cup winner in 2022 but was denied the opportunity to defend his crown 12 months ago owing to an infection in his fetlock.
Ryan Moore celebrates with the trophy after winning the Gold Cup riding Kyprios
Little thought was given to his absence when he returned last autumn. But as O’Brien explained, the severity of the issue was such that there was a stage when it appeared this muscular chestnut, who was always holding the challenge of Trawlerman through the draining final furlong, might not make it.
‘It was like somebody having the most horrific injury as a human being and winning the Olympics just for him to move and walk again,’ said O’Brien.
‘But this? Coming back to the very top level? It’s just incredible, unbelievable. I don’t know how it’s happened. I’ve never known anything within 100 miles of this. He had to learn to stand, to walk, and then to canter because he had to move his body in different ways again.
‘He always had the most incredible mind — that was always his power. People will say nothing is impossible, especially when they see that.’
Kyprios (R)completed a remarkable comeback by beating Trawlerman (L) in a thrilling duel
It explained the celebrations, a little more animated than normal from his joint-owners, Coolmore and Moyglare Stud.
It also helped that they had Moore on their side, a man who is riding at the peak of his powers. Many things in racing can be debated but not his title of best jockey in the world.
As an Arsenal fan, he won’t like being compared to Manchester City in a title race — impossible to pass — but that’s what he was on Kyprios and, earlier, on Port Fairy, whose 12-1 success in the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes enabled him to overtake Frankie Dettori in the Ascot jockeys’ Hall of Fame.
King Charles III presents owner Aidan O’Brien with the Gold Cup following the race
Lester Piggott sets the standard on 116 but Moore now has 83 victories (Dettori, ubiquitous here as a spectator, finished with 81) and O’Brien’s admiration was evident.
The man himself, by contrast, took it all in his stride. ‘Frankie has always been the best in my eyes,’ Moore said. ‘It’s all about the horses — I’m just lucky to be riding them.’
