Kyprios sealed a remarkable comeback by beating Trawlerman in a thrilling Gold Cup duel at Royal Ascot to become only the third horse to regain the title.
The 2022 winner, who missed the race last year with a life-threatening leg injury, prevailed by a length under Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Kyprios, sent off the 11-10 favourite, came out on top after a gripping battle up the home straight, with Sweet William in third.
It was a ninth win in the week’s biggest race for O’Brien, who was described as a “genius” by Michael Tabor, one of the winning owners.
The trainer revealed Kyprios had recovered from a serious fetlock joint injury which became badly infected.
“It’s a million to one, it’s almost impossible to come back from what he came back from,” O’Brien said.
“At one stage, we weren’t sure that he would live, but then he came back, we had to teach him how to walk and get him on a treadmill.
“It was like someone having the most horrific injury, a human being, and going from winning the Olympics to having to learn to move and walk, then getting back to the very top level.”
Kyprios hit the front approaching the final furlong and fended off the challenge of Trawlerman, under William Buick for John and Thady Gosden.
Trawlerman had beaten Kyprios on softer ground at Ascot on British Champions Day in October.
“That’s what you like to see – a ding-dong right to the line at the end of a Gold Cup. Having nailed him on the mud, Kyprios beat us on the fast ground today,” said John Gosden, who also trains Sweet William.
Anticipation (1819) and Kayf Tara (2020) are the only other horses to have regained the Gold Cup crown.
Moore passes Dettori for Royal Ascot wins
Moore and O’Brien also teamed up to win the Ribblesdale Stakes with 12-1 shot Port Fairy.
Port Fairy tracked the pacesetting Oaks fourth You Got To Me before moving towards the front with two furlongs to go and fighting back after being briefly passed by eventual runner-up Lava Stream.
It meant Moore surpassed Frankie Dettori (81) as the active jockey with most wins at Royal Ascot, trailing only the late Lester Piggott in the all-time standings (116).
Going The Distance won the King George V Stakes for jockey Rossa Ryan and trainer Ralph Beckett.
The 9-1 chance, claiming a fourth successive victory, won by half a length from Neski Sherelski with the first two drawn widest of all in 18 and 19.
Gilded Water, watched by owners King Charles and Queen Camilla on Ladies’ Day, was sent off the 5-1 favourite but finished 12th.
Shareholder (12-1) gave trainer Karl Burke a second victory with a juvenile at the 2024 meeting in the Norfolk Stakes as Aidan O’Brien’s 10-11 favourite Whistlejacket finished fourth.
James Doyle was on board the victor, who had made a winning debut at Beverley just 12 days earlier. It was a second success of the week for owners Wathnan Racing, headed by Sheikh Tamim, the emir of Qatar.
And a third for Doyle and Wathnan came courtesy of the Ed Walker-trained English Oak, at odds of 10-3, the first favourite to win Thursday’s concluding Buckingham Palace Stakes.
Mickley (15-2) provided a first Royal Ascot triumph for jockey Callum Rodriguez and trainer Ed Bethell in the Britannia Stakes.
There was a second win of the week for rider Sean Levey – and trainer Brian Meehan – as their 7-1 Hampton Court Stakes victor Jayarebe held on from fast-finishing favourite King’s Gambit.
