A year after getting turned over at prohibitive odds on his return to action, the formidable Kyprios regained his Irish St Leger (G1) crown with a trademark authoritative triumph in what was a stop-start running of the Curragh group 1.
Your average stayer might be vulnerable to something with a bit more toe in such circumstances, but this is no average stayer. He defied the uneven pace by gradually asserting when Ryan Moore set about him fully three furlongs out, taking his time to wear down his pacemaking stablemate The Euphrates before eventually drawing clear to win by two and a quarter lengths.
Moore, who was landing his first top-level win of the weekend after some short-priced defeats in the previous five group 1s, picked up his whip just once.
He has previously seemed dismissive of the suggestion Kyprios might be worthy of a place in the Arc, but it was a prospect Aidan O'Brien did not entirely rule out after recording his seventh victory in this €600,000 (US$664,595) showpiece.
The chestnut son of Galileo (IRE) was taking his haul for the year to five wins from five, three of which have now come in marquee events after his bloodless victories in Gold Cups at Ascot and Goodwood. And happily the 6-year-old, who is owned by a Coolmore-Moyglare Stud Farm partnership, will return for more in 2025.
Standing next to O'Brien, Moyglare owner Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner, whose colors have now been carried to Irish St Leger glory four times in six years following the 2019 and 2020 victories of Kyprios's sister Search For a Song, confirmed she "would love to see him race again next year".
The trainer is only too happy to run with that plan. "There's your answer," O'Brien parried with a smile.
"Kyprios is very special and every year he seems to be improving. That seems to be his best again and Ryan said he won so easily.
"It's a very special pedigree and Eva has brought it along all the way. These kind of horses are once in a lifetime really."
In 2023, Eldar Eldarov thwarted Kyprios on the Curragh and he was then narrowly beaten at Ascot on Champions Day by Trawlerman.
Those are his only two reversals in 12 starts since he defeated Search For A Song in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan in April 2022.
He suffered an infection to a joint capsule that kept him off the track for nearly 12 months, but he has clearly regained all of his mojo and appetite for racing in 2024.
"He's a very special horse," O'Brien said of the 2-5 favorite. "With the Ascot Gold Cup, very few horses are able to stay that far, but this horse has serious class as well. He's so genuine. To get through what he did and still be the way he is, it's incredible. He's one in a million."
