Aidan O’Brien reported that all is well with Kyprios following an alarm after his winning return on Friday.
Kyprios won the Saval Beg Stakes for the third year in succession at Leopardstown but left connections concerned after appearing to be lame as he left the winner’s enclosure.
The seven-year-old suffered a life-threatening injury that could have threatened his life in 2023, racing only twice in the latter stages of that season, finishing second on both occasions. Kyprios, however, made a remarkable return to action in 2024, winning all seven starts.
Given his history, connections were obviously worried about their star stayer but O’Brien was pleased to report that all was well with Kyprios ahead of his intended return to Royal Ascot.
“He was perfect after the race and Ryan was very happy with him in the race,” he told Racing TV from Navan on Sunday.
“We stood and got the pictures taken with him and he was perfect but just as he went to walk off, we think what happened is he crossed his legs and caught the outside of his ringbone as he was doing that and that can be very sore on a horse.
“Then he walked away kind of lame and down to the yard he was lame and we didn’t really know what was wrong so when he came back the lads x-rayed him and scanned him and all that was perfect.
“He was 100% the next morning. He walked and trotted the next morning and did a canter today. So we think that’s what it was. Dean rode him this morning and seemed very happy.
“He’s probably the most scanned and x-rayed horse ever because of his history and, obviously, there’ll never ever be any chance taken with him.”
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