Tag Archive for: Irish St Leger

Resurgent Kyprios looking to snatch back Irish St Leger title

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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.”

Giavellotto winning the Yorkshire Cup in May
Giavellotto winning the Yorkshire Cup in May (Mike Egerton/PA)

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.



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Staying prizes on Arrest’s agenda following Newmarket second

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Arrest will likely step back up in trip having returned to near his best when second in Newmarket’s Princess of Wales’s Stakes.

Sent off favourite for last year’s Derby before finishing second in the St Leger, the highly-regarded son of Frankel is yet to get his head in front in three starts this year.

However, after a respectable second at Chester, the John and Thady Gosden-trained four-year-old showed plenty of zest when encountering his preferred going on the July Course, making a bold bid before being overtaken late in the day by Marco Botti’s Giavellotto.

Arrest finished a place ahead of fellow Juddmonte-owned Time Lock and the colt could now be aimed at the Curragh’s Comer Group International Irish St Leger on September 16 as connections seek both a move up in trip and a return to the winner’s enclosure.

Arrest (left) chased home Giavellotto at Newmarket
Arrest (left) chased home Giavellotto at Newmarket (David Davies for the Jockey Club/PA)

“The two of them ran beautiful races and Arrest was back to somewhere near last year’s form,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.

“Kieran (Shoemark, jockey) thought he would improve again for that run and he is a horse we will look at something like the Irish St Leger with, or even the race on Champions Day (Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, Ascot, October 19) later in the year.

“He’s a horse who likes a bit of cut in the ground as we know and it’s good to have him back – hopefully we can look forward to an exciting second half of the season.

“He loves getting his toe in and in fairness to him, he likes a race where there is a good tempo and he can get into a nice rhythm and when he does that he is very effective. When there is a slow, messy pace it is not really his cup of tea. He’s a big horse, big stride and he just likes to have a nice rhythm.”

Time Lock winning on the Rowley Mile in 2023
Time Lock winning on the Rowley Mile in 2023 (Tim Goode/PA)

Meanwhile, Harry Charlton’s Time Lock will head to the Qatar Goodwood Festival as she continues her quest for black type in her swansong campaign.

Mahon added: “She ran a great race and is a filly who will go to the paddocks at the end of the year and has just finished second in a Group Two.

“It is more black type for the family and we will look at Goodwood for her. There’s two races for her there, the Lillie Langtry and the Glorious Stakes and she will have options in both.

“She is a filly we will just keep bashing away with in group company before she retires at the end of the year.”



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All eyes on Kyprios return in Irish St Leger

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Kyprios makes his long-awaited return to action in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger at the Curragh on Sunday.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained chestnut asserted himself as the new star of the staying division last season, enjoying a superb Group One winning streak that included the Gold Cup, the Goodwood Cup, the Irish St Leger and the Prix du Cadran.

A setback then stalled his career and he has not been seen since the latter victory, leaving the long-distance races he would have contested open in his absence.

The five-year-old has been limbering up for a comeback and day two of the Irish Champions Festival will be the scene as he looks to retain the title he won 12 months ago.

Fiona Craig of owners Moyglare Stud said: “I’m not sure he’s quite there yet, but I think he’s ready to run. I know he had a racecourse gallop at the Curragh a good few weeks ago, so we’ll see.

“He’s just a bigger horse than he was before and I think they’ve gone steadily with him because of the injury, but I don’t think Aidan would be running him if he didn’t think he was going to run well.

“It will just be great to see him back at the races because he’s a very popular horse, there’s more people ask me about Kyprios than anything else we own!

“He’s the horse that wherever you are in the world, people ask you about the big chestnut horse.”

Taking him on is last year’s English St Leger winner, the Roger Varian-trained Eldar Eldarov.

The four-year-old is yet to come home in front this term but has run with credit in the top contests at the distance, finishing second in the Yorkshire Cup, seventh in the Gold Cup and fourth in the Goodwood Cup.

He was an intended runner in the Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh last month, but he became unsettled on the journey over and was withdrawn after the decision was made to bring him home.

“He’s been knocking on the door at this level this season,” said Chris Wall, racing manager to owners KHK Racing.

“Obviously we’ve got to take on Kyprios and Emily Dickinson, they look to be the main dangers over in Ireland.

“He’s in good form and we’re hoping for a good run from him.

“Obviously a Kyprios in tip-top condition would be a difficult task for him, but he’s coming off a considerable lay-off so we might have an advantage there.

“We were only narrowly behind Emily Dickinson at Goodwood last time and I would have thought it would have been pretty close between those two again.

“We go there chance, hopefully he can get his first victory of the year in this race.”

O’Brien has a second runner in Emily Dickinson, winner of the Curragh Cup and second in the Goodwood Cup when last seen, with Joseph O’Brien’s Dawn Rising and Jessica Harrington’s Yashin completing the field of five.



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Kyprios on comeback trail in Irish Leger

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Kyprios is due to make his highly anticipated return to action in Sunday’s Comer Group International Irish St Leger with Aidan O’Brien surprised his star stayer is in the line-up.

The Moyglare Stud-owned chestnut carried all before him last season, winning the Gold Cup at Ascot, the Goodwood Cup, this corresponding race and the Prix du Cadran by a staggering 20 lengths.

Unfortunately, he met with a setback in the spring and O’Brien and his team have been forced to use all the guile, skill and patience required to get him back in time to defend his title on Irish racing’s biggest weekend.

Having picked up an infection on the inside of a joint and then enduring a far from straightforward recuperation, O’Brien admits he did not expect him to be lining up so soon.

“I didn’t think he’d make it back (for the Irish Leger) to tell you the truth and I can’t quite believe that he’s going to make it back, there’s still another day to go,” said O’Brien.

“He had a massive injury and I didn’t think it was going to be possible to get him back but the team have done a great job to get him back here, everyone that has been involved in him along the way deserves the credit.

“We’re hoping that he makes it back, he starts off OK, comes home well and then we can start planning after that, really.”



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