Aidan O’Brien has issued a positive bulletin on star stayer
following his Saval Beg Stakes victory at Leopardstown on Friday evening.
The seven-year-old claimed a third success in the Group Three contest, with the dual Gold Cup winner seemingly well on course for another trip to
.
However, O’Brien expressed some concern about the horse’s movement leaving the winner’s enclosure, saying Kyprios was “moving a little bit gingerly in front”.
The son of Galileo has subsequently been checked over and was reported to be sound on Saturday morning.
O’Brien, quoted on the X account of the horse’s owners Coolmore, said: “Kyprios is very good this morning and is sound.
“We think he knocked his pastern after turning sharply in the winners enclosure.
“X-rays and scans were all clean and we are very happy with him.”
Kyprios has followed a familiar route to Ascot in winning last month’s Vintage Crop Stakes before taking the Saval Beg – the same path he took before his Gold Cup victories in 2022 and 2024, when he also enjoyed unbeaten seasons.
O’Brien’s charge is a general 11-10 favourite to win a third Gold Cup, which would put him level with Sagaro and Stradivarius and one win behind Yeats, who claimed four victories for O’Brien between 2006 and 2009.