Staying king Kyprios lifts the Curragh gloom with brave Irish St Leger success

Sunday: Comer Group International Irish St Leger, Curragh

On a grim autumn afternoon shrouded in swirling winds and squally downpours, Kyprios lifted the gloom with a signature fusion of class and courage to add the Irish St Leger to his increasingly impressive portfolio.

The vast expanses of the Curragh on a day like this present a rather different environment to the sun-kissed backdrop that saw Aidan O'Brien's Galileo colt secure his first two Group 1 triumphs in the Gold Cup at Ascot, then the Goodwood version.

It made for a resplendent summer that saw him twice put Stradivarius in his place, but the chestnut four-year-old came into this €500,000 feature after a short break following his gallant effort on the Sussex downs.

Although the elements had relented by the time the gates opened for the one-mile-six-furlong event, persistent rainfall through the day had rendered conditions far more demanding than those he encountered during the height of summer.

The ground on the round course was officially being given as just yielding, but there was a tempestuous easterly blowing across the track to exacerbate the task at hand.

Resilience, though, is Kyprios's defining trait. After swinging by the three-furlong pole with his six-year-old full-sister Search For A Song upsides, the siblings relieved Jason The Militant of the lead in a matter of strides.

Then the youth in Kyprios's legs promptly extinguished Search For A Song's quest for a third victory in the race. When Hamish emerged between them travelling powerfully under Richard Kingscote, suddenly the 8-11 favourite looked vulnerable.

Turns out appearances can be deceptive. Over a furlong from home, Moore got after Kyprios and grabbed most of a length on Hamish, a gap that Kingscote couldn't reduce when he got serious.

There were three-quarters of a length in it at the line, but the suspicion is Kyprios was only doing as much as he had to despite the drop in trip.

"This horse is such a talented racehorse and such a pleasure to ride," Moore said after what was his third Irish St Leger success.

"He is a little bit lazy but there is so much there. Every time you ask him he will find a little bit more for you. He is a very special stayer."

Kyprios: 'he is a unique horse'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

While his mount was first out of the stalls, Moore then had to chase him to hold an early position behind the front-running Jason The Militant. Once he had his berth in the leader's slipstream, he settled into a comfortable rhythm.

"He broke well and then he just wanted to follow for a bit," Moore explained. "The pace was nice and even and I was happy where I was. He started to take me coming down the hill and he was always going to keep finding then."

The win was O'Brien's sixth in the race, 15 years after the mighty Yeats landed the first. Talk of emulating Yeats' Ascot legacy is obviously premature, but O'Brien would surely relish the opportunity to at least have a go at replicating his longevity.

When asked if a tilt at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe might be on the agenda, O'Brien, who now has a revitalised Luxembourg heading for Longchamp, seemed lukewarm to the suggestion, with the Long Distance Cup at Ascot also in the equation.

"We'll see what happens and see what everybody thinks," he said. "We'll see what the ground is like. Kyprios is only a four-year-old, so for a stayer he is very young.

"He was extra lazy today. Maybe it was the soft ground made him a little bit more laboured. He could go back to a mile and a half but obviously we would love to have him around for the Gold Cup for the coming years, because he is a unique horse."

Hamish emerged with credit in second on his first start since landing the Ormonde Stakes on May 5, as did Search For A Song, who kept going to be a well-held third.

Like Search For A Song, Kyprios sports the colours of their breeder Moyglare Stud Farm. His win was a poignant one for the firm's owner Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner, who was present to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of her father Walter's eminent local enterprise.

"It was great that Eva was here to see him today," O'Brien said. "He is obviously a horse that gets a trip but he has a lot of class. He is very easy to deal with, so it leaves him a lot of options."

Replays, results and analysis

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