Comer Group International Irish St Leger
Grade 1, Curragh 16:45
€600,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
1m 6f, Class 1  
Sunday 15th September 2024

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1 Kyprios 2/5F
2 Vauban 8/1
3 Giavellotto 3/1
6 ran NR: Al Qareem, Crypto Force
Distances: 2¼l, ¾l, ¾l Time: 2m 59.04s (fast by 1.36s)

Aidan O’Brien is considering a run at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for Kyprios after the popular stayer reclaimed his title here. The son of Galileo had an outstanding 2022, winning the Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup, Irish St Leger, and Prix du Cadran during Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp. However, he faced a life-threatening injury the following spring and was beaten on his Irish Leger comeback and again on Champions Day at Ascot, though he performed admirably given the circumstances.

This season, the six-year-old has returned to top form, regaining both the Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup. It was no surprise that he was the 2-5 favourite to win the final Classic of the year on home soil. After tracking his stablemate The Euphrates for much of the one-mile-six-furlong race, Kyprios surged into the lead at the top of the home straight. Ryan Moore aimed to outlast Marco Botti’s Yorkshire Cup and Princess of Wales’s Stakes winner Giavellotto, who was traveling well under Oisin Murphy but couldn’t catch the favourite. Kyprios galloped on to win by two and a quarter lengths. The Willie Mullins-trained Vauban came from the rear to challenge and finished second, splitting Kyprios and Giavellotto.

“He’s so special, and we saw what he did today,” O’Brien said. “He’s a very, very special horse, and he seems to improve every year. Ryan said he won so easily. It’s a special place and a special race, and horses like him are once in a lifetime. In the Ascot Gold Cup, very few horses can go that far (two and a half miles), but this horse has serious class. He’s so genuine to get through what he did and still be the way he is, stay the way he does, and relax the way he does. He’s one in a million.”

Paddy Power has made Kyprios their 4-6 favourite for the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, while offering 25-1 for the Arc. When asked if Kyprios could run again this year, O’Brien added: “I’m not sure, he doesn’t have to. We approach every race by seeing how he is, having a chat, and then deciding if we go again. He looks very fresh. He could run in an Arc; we knew that at any time. It’s important to mind him, do the right thing for him, and let him tell us how he is and where he wants to go at that time of the year. There is only one Arc, and he has a serious engine. He just doesn’t get tired; he keeps going.”

Reflecting on Kyprios’s issue last year, O’Brien said: “He got an infection in a joint capsule, but Eva (Maria Bucher-Haefner of Moyglare Stud) was so patient with him, and there was no pressure to do anything with him. Whether he raced or didn’t last year, there was absolutely no pressure, and it’s the patience that Eva had with him. Many people did a lot of work with him, and we’re so grateful to them all. Having so much time and no pressure on anybody gave us the time to get him back.”

Bucher-Haefner, daughter of the late Walter Haefner, who purchased Moyglare in 1962, said: “It’s the first time I’ve been here that he’s won. I was here last year, and he was second. What beautiful work they’ve done with him because he was quite sick.” When asked if we’d see him next year, she said: “I’d say yes, I would love to see him again.”

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Comer Group International Irish St. Leger
€600,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 1m 6f
6 ran
Going: Good

POS. (DRAW) FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 (4)    Kyprios 6 9-11 A P O'Brien Ryan Moore 2/5F
2 (6) 2¼ Vauban 6 9-11 W P Mullins William Buick 8/1
3 (3) ¾ Giavellotto 5 9-11 Marco Botti Oisin Murphy 3/1
4 (8) ¾ The Euphrates 3 9-2 A P O'Brien Wayne Lordan 40/1
5 (5) 7 Nastaria 5 9-8 Frau Anna Schleusner-Fruhriep Miguel Lopez 125/1
6 (7) 18 Waldadler 5 9-11 P Vovcenko Seamie Heffernan 80/1
NR 1 (2) Al Qareem 5 9-11 K R Burke NON RUNNER
NR 2 (1) Crypto Force 4 9-11 Adrian Murray NON RUNNER

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