Royal Ascot 2024 day three | Gold Cup review & replay

Kyprios regains Gold Cup

Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien teamed up once more to regain the Gold Cup with 11/10 favourite Kyprios, as the son of Galileo became just the third horse to ever win back the top staying prize.

Trawlerman (7/1) set a steady gallop and battled all the way to the line under William Buick but had to settle for second place, with a large gap back to stablemate Sweet William (9/1) who plugged on from the rear for third. Willie Mullins’ Vauban ran well for a long way and momentarily looked a danger before ultimately faltering into fourth.

It was another straightforward masterclass in the saddle from Moore who always had his mount close to the pace and brought Kyprios to the outer to challenge as the horses turned into the home straight.

Striking the front a furlong out, the 2022 winner of the race gave generously and the winning margin at the post was a length.

O’Brien’s six-year-old was the dominant force in the division when landing the two-and-a-half-mile showpiece two years ago, also triumphing in the Goodwood Cup and the Irish St Leger before a sensational 20-length victory in the Prix du Cadran.

A career-threatening injury restricted him to just two outings last season and he was beaten on both occasions, including a neck defeat to Trawlerman on Champions Day – but Kyprios reversed the form on the day that mattered most to become the first horse since Kayf Tara in 2000 to regain the Gold Cup.

On how unusual it is for a horse to come back to racing after the issue Kyprios had in a fetlock joint, he said: “I’d say it’s millions to one. It was really impossible to come back from what he came back from. At one stage we weren’t sure he would live.”

He added: “It was really like someone having the most horrific injury, as a human being, and winning the Olympics to get back to move and to walk, but 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 was never going to happen. When there’s 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.”

“He stays for ever. Ryan said going out, ‘I know he stays best, he has the most speed as well’. Incredible horse, really. It’s easy to say that, but to make it happen like he did out there is another thing.”

On Ryan Moore, he said: “Every year Ryan rides, he gets better. Every year he has ridden for us, he gets better. He is the complete package and puts it all in, in every way – he is so committed, so straight, so loyal, so dedicated, such an athlete. And every year, he improves. He’s only 40 now and he will definitely keep getting better well into his mid-40s the way he is going.”

Reaction of beaten connections

William Buick, rider of Trawlerman, said: “He was foot-perfect the whole way, and when I turned in, I thought I had plenty of horse. He kept finding all the way to the line, and even when the winner headed me, he came back. It was a huge run. He stayed the trip. I’m sure Goodwood will be the next target. The winner’s been here and done it before so you’ve got to respect him, but Trawlerman’s run a mighty race.”

John Gosden: "When Kyprios came to him [Trawlerman] there was a battle and when Kyprios came to him, he fights back. That's what you like to see, a ding-dong right to the line.

"Kyprios nailed him in the mud and he's beaten us on the fast ground today."

On Sweet William, he said: "He thinks about life, he gets there when he wants to. He does everything in his own time but he ran really well to be third. Second and third is a great run from both horses.

“I think obviously with Trueshan coming out of the race, and he would have been the obvious pace, we were left in the knowledge that there was no pace and let Trawlerman go on and do his own thing. William gave him a lovely ride in a great rhythm, and just changing his legs, when Kyprios came to him there was a battle, and that’s what you like to see, a ding-dong fight right to the line at the end of the Gold Cup. And with Kyprios, having nailed him in the mud he beat us on the fast ground today."

Phillippa Cooper, owner-breeder of Sweet William, added: “I’m just so pleased. He had five screws in, it’s well documented, as a two-year-old, so it’s been a long journey. And for him to do this on ground that’s very hard, it’s just unbelievable. I’m just so, so proud of him. You’d think I had won the race!

"I could see my other horse, Gregory, but he just didn’t get the trip. We weren’t absolutely sure - William doesn’t pick up, but he gallops and stays on. He did try, and Rab [Havlin] said when he was out in the open and Kyprios and Trawlerman were in front, he suddenly thought he’d won. And then he saw the other two horses and realised, and he did go after them, he didn’t throw in the towel.

"I think he’s improving - Rab says he’s improving - and if he stays sound, he could be back. It was very, very special.”

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