Brilliant stayer Kyprios made it nine victories in a row - and 17 from 21 career starts - with a third triumph in the Levmoss Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown as the 1/14F set up his bid for a third victory in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot next month.
However, Aidan O’Brien revealed to Racing TV’s Gary O’Brien that his star performer subsequently walked away “gingerly”.
The trainer added that the lameness could be something of a false alarm but clearly the days ahead will be pivotal for a seven-year-old horse who has had significant health issues in the past.
“He came back in perfect and when he went to walk off (out of the winner’s enclosure) he was moving a little bit gingerly in front," O'Brien said. "He was feeling something walking away.
“We’ll check him out and obviously he’s scanned and X-rayed before he runs every day because of his history. Hopefully it’s just a sprung shoe or something like that. We'll investigate and see what it is. It could be something and it could be nothing.”
O'Brien has four other horses engaged in the Gold Cup but suggested to Racing TV that they had only been entries in case that Kyprios had to miss out.
Kyprios is no bigger than 6-5 to win a third Gold Cup, and is as short as 8-11 to gain yet another big-race triumph. He won the biggest staying race of the year in 2022 and 2024, but missed the 2023 renewal when on the sidelines.
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