Kyprios to Miss Ascot Gold Cup with Injury

Superstar stayer Kyprios  is set to miss June's Ascot Gold Cup through injury, with Aidan O'Brien hoping Emily Dickinson  can develop into a live contender for the staying showpiece at Royal Ascot in his absence. 

Kyprios was the outstanding stayer of 2022, winning all six starts as a 4-year-old including a vintage renewal of the Gold Cup (G1). He concluded his campaign with an astonishing 20-length romp in the Prix du Cadran (G1) on Arc weekend and was expected to dominate the division again this year.

An infection picked up in a joint has not healed as quickly as O'Brien was hoping and the Gold Cup will come too quickly.

O'Brien said: "I don't think Kyprios is going to make the Gold Cup. He got an inner infection, inside in the joint. It's an unusual thing for it to come inside the joint. The joint had to be flushed. Then his bloods were still up after it was flushed so that meant there was further infection in the joint and they had to flush it again.

"It's like one of your own joints, sometimes it takes a while to settle down and that's where we're at with them at the moment. It happened a month ago and it's just not settling down yet. Sometimes those things can settle very quickly and sometimes they don't."

When asked who might fill the void left by Kyprios in the staying division for the first half of the season, the master trainer replied: "We were very impressed with Emily Dickinson at the Curragh on her last run. She grew another leg when we upped her to two miles. Broome will be there as well, although I'm not sure whether he will stretch out that far in trip, but we'll certainly look at Goodwood and the Irish Leger and Melbourne Cup for him. Changingoftheguard could be another, but he will start over middle distances."