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Aidan O’Brien’s star stayer confirms his superiority on the division.
Kyprios confirmed his position at the top of the staying tree with a commanding victory in the Group 1 Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup on Tuesday.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained six-year-old entire landed the two-mile top-level prize in 2022, in a glorious campaign which also saw him take out the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, the Irish St Leger and a remarkable twenty-length rout of his rivals in the Prix du Cadran.
A career-threatening injury would see him miss the majority of last season but following victories in the Vintage Crop and Saval Beg before regaining his Ascot Gold cup crown, it's fair to say Aidan O'Brien's staying star is firmly back at the top of the tree.
Sent off the 8/13 market leader to regain his Goodwood Cup title, Kyprios backers never really had a moment of doubt throughout the two-mile contest.
The son of Galileo was briefly pushed along rounding the home turn, but he soon picked up the bridle and once asked to stamp his authority on the race by regular partner Ryan Moore, he quickly moved to the head of affairs.
Sweet William, who was six lengths behind Kyprios in the Ascot feature, attempted to get on terms in the closing stages, but the bird had flown, and the winning margin was eventually a comfortable four-lengths. Stablemate Gregory finished back in third, with the Alan King-trained popular eight-year-old Trueshan a further spot behind in fourth.
On how the race panned out, Moore said: "I thought there would be pace with Al Qareem; he's usually a free-going horse. It took a while to get there, but my horse obviously stays well. It was very smooth, and we've obviously done the track record.
"The only thing that happened was that he slipped on the top turn, then he was just on the back foot and dropped away from the horse who was going to take me into the race. He still got there with two to run going very easy, and he was a bit idle in front there, but it was a tremendous performance.
"That slip did put him on the back foot down the hill a little bit, you know, and I wasn't able to control the race the way I would have liked. But when you ask him and he picks up the bridle, he's got pace. He does save a little bit for himself, really, but when you get it out of him, he's got that speed there.
"He's been a great horse for a long time now and his record is incredible, really. Since we stepped him up in trip there's only been two defeats last year, neither of which was completely his fault.
"He is just very high class. This fella is very, very good. He wouldn't show you how good he is, but he's very good. He is not an Arc horse – he stays well but he wouldn't be disgraced.
Paddy Power remained unchanged at 33/1 for the Arc, but O'Brien confirmed that would be unlikely with a tilt at the Irish St Leger a more likely option.
He said: "The Gold Cup is a very important race for him every year and we will mind him for that. We thought if he was ok today, we might bring him back to an Irish St Leger again. If we got him through that, we'd have him for next year. We have to be respectful of him and to him, because if you saw where he came from, it's hard to believe that he is here today. He did find the undulations of the track a little more challenging than he did before, but I couldn't say enough great things about him."
