Scoop Dyga/France-Galop
'Such A Special Horse': Kyprios Now An Eight-Time Group 1 Winner
Kyprios won his sixth straight race of 2024 on Sunday, capturing the Group 1 Prix du Cadran, the marathon 2 1/2-mile race on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend at Longchamp. It was Kyprios' eighth Group 1 victory in a career that nearly ended in 2023.
The 6-year-old son of Galileo had to battle his way back from a devastating fetlock infection which nearly cost his life. Kyprios had to be retrained how to walk, then trot, and gallop, but with dedicated care from team Aidan O'Brien, he's now back at the top of the sport.
Kyprios, winner of this race in 2022, led the field. In the final stages, he found himself battling with the winner of the 2021 and 2023 editions, Trueshan, who looked like he might get the better of him but ultimately had to settle for second, with Kyprios winning by two lengths while Coltrane, who briefly joined the fight, finished a neck behind Trueshan.
Trainer Aidan O'Brien said: "Kyprios is such a special horse! The team have done a fantastic job to get him back on track after his health problems. He has so much class... For a stayer, he has a rare ability to quicken. We can look forward to returning to [Royal] Ascot for the Gold Cup next year. He also has such a strong mindset. That was already apparent when he was a 2-year-old! It's a great privilege to look after him every day. This was his eighth Group 1 win: and he's quite simply the horse who won the most Group 1 races for us [Ballydoyle]."
Earlier this year, following Kyprios' win in the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, O'Brien detailed the story of Kyprios' remarkable recovery: "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. 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.
“It shouldn’t have happened, to come back like that, but it happened. Nothing is impossible, especially when you see that. I think it’s the people who have been dealing with him all the way and looking after him. I remember when he went down to work the first time, I remember Rachel 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. Because every stage, he had to be redone, redone, redone. At every little bit. Then 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.
“I thought at every stage it was never going to happen. When there are that many people working together in that kind of a special way, anything was possible. Nobody was for themselves. Everyone was for him. Nobody was trying to take credit for anything. Everyone was passing it on and working it out with each other."
