Royal Ascot 2024: Kyprios strikes gold again for O’Brien and Moore

The Gold Cup winner’s crown at Ascot has been regularly defended since the race was inaugurated in 1807, but very rarely has it been reclaimed. Anticipation, in 1819, and Kayf Tara, in 2000, were the only previous winners of the Gold Cup in non-consecutive years. Kyprios cantered to post for the royal meeting’s feature race on Thursday, and it was only after an extended and memorable battle with Trawlerman, who had beaten Kyprios the last time they met, that Aidan O’Brien’s six-year-old became the third name on the list.

There was no doubting Kyprios’s quality before Thursday’s Group One contest. He stamped himself as the outstanding stayer of his generation in an unbeaten six-race campaign in 2022, when his victories included the Gold Cup, the Goodwood Cup and a scarcely credible 20-length romp in the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp.

An injury-blighted 2023 season left his career in the balance, however, and it is the latest of a long and ever-extending list of achievements by O’Brien to have prepared Kyprios, both physically and mentally, for the rigours of a winning run in a Gold Cup.

It was a struggle that veered one way and then the other from the two-furlong pole. William Buick had set near-perfect fractions on Trawlerman, who had edged out Kyprios by a neck in the stayers race here on Champions Day last October, and after Kyprios had taken a narrow advantage, Buick had kept enough in reserve to mount a renewed effort and move alongside once again.

Kyprios, though, has an attitude to match his ability, and dug deep when Ryan Moore asked for a final push to gain a length on his rival at the line.

O’Brien suggested afterwards that it had been “millions-to-one” that Kyprios would return to Group One-winning form after his problems with a injured fetlock joint.

“It was really impossible to come back from what he came back from,” the trainer said. “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.

“He got an infection in his joint, and it got into the joint capsule. Usually what happens is that they lose the movement in the joint, and for a while he did, but it came back.

“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.

“I remember when he went down to work the first time, I remember Rachel [Richardson] was riding him, and I didn’t know what was going to happen.

“No horse has ever been X-rayed, scanned more in their life, than him. When he came back into training, it was every day, every day – was it moving? Was it changing? Was it getting better? It was incredible.”

Moore was completing a 26-1 double on the day he had earlier passed Frankie Dettori’s total of 81 Royal Ascot winners to take sole charge of the record for wins at the meeting among active riders, edging home by a neck on O’Brien’s Port Fairy in the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes.

While Moore is now pre-eminent among current jockeys at this meeting, however, he still has a long way to go to match Lester Piggott’s all-time record of 116 Royal Ascot victories, which is all the more remarkable as it was compiled in an era when the meeting comprised 24 races over four days, rather than the current 35 over five.

“I wouldn’t have even given it a thought, to be honest,” Moore said when asked about his latest achievement.

“And the only reason I’m riding that amount of winners is I’ve ridden for the two most successful trainers in the history of Ascot, Aidan and Sir Michael Stoute.

“It’s all about the horses, I’m just lucky to be riding them. I remember Frankie when I was a kid, riding for my grandad [Charlie] at Brighton. He’s always been the best in my eyes.”

Elmalka on course for Coronation

The winners of the English and French 1,000 Guineas – Elmalka and Rouhiya – are both in the field for the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday, but the betting suggests that Opera Singer, only third in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh, is the one to beat.

That may reflect a sense that the Newmarket Classic – in which the first five home were separated by just a length – is underwhelming, but Elmalka’s winning time was respectable and Fallen Angel, the subsequent Irish Guineas winner, was among the also-rans.

Elmalka (3.45) was also one of the most lightly raced runners in the Newmarket field and quickened sharply from well off the pace. Ascot’s round mile with a stiff uphill finish should suit her ideally and she is an excellent bet at around 4-1 to follow up her Classic success.

Royal Ascot 2.30 Runners trained by Aidan O’Brien and Charlie Appleby dominate the betting but their form to date does not put either filly as far clear of the field as the odds might suggest and a potential improver like Simmering, a close third in a strong race at York on debut, could well spring a surprise.

Royal Ascot 3.05 Jasour’s two-year-old career petered out somewhat after a Group Two win at Newmarket in July, but he was back to his best when reunited with Jim Crowley for a trial over track and trip in May and looks over-priced at around 11-2 on that form.

Royal Ascot 4.25 Lightly-raced Shadow Dance was a close second behind Alkasib – who ran well in the Copper Horse Handicap here on Tuesday – in the Old Rowley Cup in October and is just 6lb higher here. He has not had a prep race but Roger Varian is more than capable of readying one first time up and he looks the type to progress rapidly at four.

Royal Ascot 5.05 Joseph’s O’Brien’s Without Words must have been a tricky runner for the handicapper to assess after races at Bordeaux, Toulouse and Listowel, and an opening mark of 92 could be a little on the low side. At around 14-1, she could be worth a small interest in a very open race.

Royal Ascot 5.40 Theory Of Tides has just two minor wins to his name so far but the time of his latest success at Yarmouth was strong and there are question marks over several runners at similar odds or shorter.

Royal Ascot 6.15 There should be more to come from the lightly raced and unbeaten Dyrholaey, who bids to give Archie Watson a second successive win in this race.