By Tom Frary
Following the exploits of Jan Brueghel (Ire) and Illinois (Ire) on Saturday, it is the turn of Kyprios (Ire) to write one of the final stories of the grand epoch of Galileo (Ire) in his St Leger on Sunday. Heading back to The Curragh for the Irish equivalent he mastered in 2022, Moyglare's elite homebred seems to know no limitations to his supremacy in the staying division and it is highly likely he will augment Ballydoyle's group 1 haul during Irish Champions Weekend.
Nothing can diminish him. Not the best opposition that can be thrown at him, including the legend of this category Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), not even a career and life-threatening injury. That is not to say that Scuderia La Tesa Limited and Vaibhav Shah's Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) will not provide a worthy test to the horse seemingly hewn from the nearby Rock of Cashel, because the G2 Princess of Wales's Stakes and dual G2 Yorkshire Cup winner certainly will. However, just as Hamish (GB) (Motivator {GB}) discovered two years ago, being a classy, strong-staying middle-distance performer still doesn't cut it where this horse is concerned.
Giavellotto would be a warm order in any other year, given his ideal credentials for this prize for which he has been expertly prepared by Marco Botti, but he is plain unfortunate to be around at the same time as the preeminent Irish stayer. With due respect paid to the best of the remainder, the G2 Lonsdale Cup winner Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), it is Giavellotto who is the key adversary here.
“He's an unusual horse, in that he's a group horse over a mile and a quarter, I'd say, but he gets two-and-a-half, which is very rare,” Aidan O'Brien said of Kyprios, who was only half-baked coming back from his near-catastrophic injury when missing out in this 12 months ago. “I thought there was no chance in the world that he could come back, I don't think anybody did, so it was incredible what the people around him did. He's a hard horse to read, as he's very lazy and only does what he has to do, but he did look very good at Goodwood the last day.”
Marco Botti deserves great credit for targeting this prize with Giavellotto and is far from negative as the showdown approaches. “This has been the plan for a while and he seems in good order,” he said. “The ground is hopefully not going to be too soft and it's nice Oisin Murphy is able to ride him, as we don't have to change a combination that has worked well so far this year.”
“We freshened him up after Newmarket and he's lightly-raced this year. He likes a bit of space between his races, so I don't think that should be an issue,” he added. “Kyprios is a very good horse and obviously it's a strong race, but we knew that. Our horse seems to be in the same form he was before he won the Princess of Wales, so fingers crossed.”
Operatics In The Vermeille?
While Kyprios is firmly in his comfort zone on Sunday, stablemate Opera Singer (Justify) enters unknown territory in the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille at ParisLongchamp as she tackles the mile-and-a-half trip of the Arc for the first time. In the immediate aftermath of her G1 Prix Marcel Boussac win last term, Ryan Moore had that showpiece at the forefront of his mind and that may be the best indicator of her prospects of staying this far.
Having bossed the G1 Nassau Stakes last month, the relatively fresh filly may have the edge over the year-older Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}), who has had to endure the hardcase events of the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International in recent weeks. Nevertheless, connections of the Ralph Beckett-trained G1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner are seeing all the right signals as they plough on into the autumn. “It looks like we're going to roll the dice in the Vermeille on Sunday, as she has come out of York in such good form,” Juddmonte's European racing manager Barry Mahon said.
“Ralph has been really happy with the way she is training and she's a filly who will probably retire at the end of the year and this is a race that slotted in nicely,” he added. “It will leave us with options to then run on Arc weekend or British Champions Day, whichever direction the owners want to go. She's run hugely this year and I thought her run in the Juddmonte International was a big effort and the King George run was a huge run.”
Like Opera Singer, Al Shaqab Racing and Jean Pierre Dubois's G1 Prix de Diane heroine Sparkling Plenty (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) is also up in trip having been caught behind a steady pace in the Nassau. If she gets into the right rhythm, her electric acceleration will be a potent weapon even over this mile and a half. “The idea is obviously to see how she handles the extra couple of furlongs. It is a group 1 in its own right as well, so it is worth a go and we will learn a bit more about her,” Al Shaqab's French racing consultant Rupert Pritchard-Gordon said.
“The Vermeille is often a strong race, but looks particularly strong this year. We will see how she goes and the team is very happy with her and she seems on good terms with herself. Tony Piccone is back onboard and the trainer was very keen, as he won a Prix de Diane on her and he rides a lot of horses for Mr Dubois.”
The Vermeille also features the Wertheimers' TDN Rising Star Aventure (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who returns to the distance of her emphatic seven-length win in Chantilly's G3 Prix de Royaumont in June and who at this stage rates as live an Arc outsider as anything around.
The Rest Of The Curragh
The Curragh's fixture also sees Victorious Racing chase a big-race weekend double following the win of their 2-year-old Bay City Roller (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) in Saturday's G2 Champagne Stakes, as the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes hero Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) tackles the G1 Flying Five Stakes. Like Kyprios having returned from his own serious injury, the Archie Watson-trained TDN Rising Star looks back to the form of his win in last year's G1 King's Stand Stakes and has considerably more upside than most of his rivals here.
“Archie seems very happy with him and we go there full of confidence,” Fawzi Nass's racing manager Oliver St Lawrence said. “The way he won at York has always been his style, he likes to sit just off a strong pace and he is able to sustain it. I think it's fair to say he is as good as ever this year and that is certainly how we view him.”
“In the Phoenix Stakes as a 2-year-old, he fractured his tibia and still managed to finish fourth–he probably fractured it coming out of the stalls in hindsight. I think there are horses that will go forward on our side and I would suspect some of the horses that are more tilting their hats are probably likely to put on a strong pace.”
The two 2-year-old races on the card look particularly strong, with the G2 Railway Stakes and G2 Futurity Stakes winner Henri Matisse (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and G2 Vintage Stakes scorer Aomori City (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}) joined by the impressive G3 Prix Francois Boutin winner Cowardofthecounty (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) and Amo Racing and Giselle De Aguiar's impressive Leopardstown maiden-winning TDN Rising Star Hill Road (Quality Road) in the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes. Given the way Cowardofthecounty keeps impressing on the clock and the look of the form of Hill Road's debut, this may not be the straight Ballydoyle-Godolphin showdown it usually is.
In the G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, Ballydoyle's unbeaten TDN Rising Star and head girl Bedtime Story (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) will be tested by Al Shaqab Racing's impressive G2 Prix du Calvados winner Simmering (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), her own stable's G3 Sweet Solera Stakes-winning TDN Rising Star Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Juddmonte's fellow TDN Rising Star Red Letter (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Second to Lake Victoria on debut over this course and distance, the Ger Lyons-trained homebred backed up the huge impression she created in defeat there when winning another hot contest over the same track and trip in July.
Aidan O'Brien said of his pair, “Bedtime Story is a big, high-tempo filly–that's what she is. When the tempo is strong and hard, she only really kicks in after the two-furlong marker and it never really kicked in at all [when winning the G2 Debutante Stakes] at The Curragh.”
Barry Mahon said of Red Letter, “I would say experience would be the worry for her, as she's only had two starts whereas some of the main protagonists have had three, four or even five runs. That has to be a bit of a concern jumping into a group 1, but we feel she is a nice filly and the form of her two maidens is pretty good. We would like to think she's a filly who could improve even further next year, but if she could finish in the three and run well it will be a good result.”
Arc Clues In Paris…
All eyes are trained on the Arc now and ParisLongchamp's mile-and-a-half course of the great race is used as a landing strip on Sunday for some of the leading favourites for the 2024 renewal. None hold more kudos at present than the G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero Look De Vega (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who is up to the trip for the first time in the G2 Qatar Prix Niel. This is no soft touch, with the Gredley Family's Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) and the Wertheimers' G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Sosie (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) just two of the opponents set to test his mettle.
“He will carry the Al Shaqab colours for the first time and I saw his gallop on Monday morning at Maisons-Laffitte and he has such a laid-back attitude, he's a cool customer,” Rupert Pritchard-Gordon said of the Chantilly Classic hero. “He's done very well over the summer, Yann [Lerner] felt he was going to fill out a little bit more and he has. It was interesting that he did a similar workout to what he did six or seven days out from the Prix du Jockey Club with the same horse, Ronan Thomas was aboard and they were very happy with him.”
“They've left a little bit to work on for the big weekend in October, but he goes there on Sunday ready for his prep and will come on for the run as well, that's the idea,” he added. “It's going to be a big learning curve for us over the weekend, but there isn't much to say a mile and a half will bother him, he's such a relaxed horse and he has a massive stride on him, so it will be quite exciting to see him run over an extra furlong and a half.”
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