Kyprios retirement: Timeform reaction

By David Ord

Horse Racing

Thu May 29, 2025 · 3d ago

Timeform feel Kyprios deserves to be ed as one of the great stayers following the news of his retirement.

Coolmore issued a statement on Tuesday morning confirming the seven-year-old’s racing career was over after he aggravated an old ringbone lesion.

It meant he bowed out the winner of 17 of his 21 career starts and last nine in succession. It was a haul that included two victories in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, Goodwood Cup, Irish St Leger and Prix Du Cadran.

At the time of his retirement Kyprios was Timeform's highest-rated horse in training in Britain or Ireland with a rating of 128. Rosallion and White Birch were next best on 126

He won more Group One races (eight) than any horse Aidan O’Brien has trained and while other stayers have retired with higher ratings in recent times, Timeform’s Dan Barber told Wednesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “I think we appreciate his greatness and should celebrate it.

“Clearly ratings trump everything as far as we’re concerned to a large extent, but even on the figures he’s right up there as one of the great stayers of all time. His peak figure of 131 from the Prix du Cadran, and that 20 lengths rout, was subsequently pulled down slightly as further evidence emerged.

“But he ended up on 128 as his proven figure and there’s more to this too. We couldn’t find many other horses across history who went unbeaten through two seasons with at least four runs and won at least one Group One.

“We’re in Frankel territory to name just one other.

"In 48% of his starts, which includes those earlier in his career when he wasn't the same force, he ran to a Timeform rating of at least 120. He won 15 times over a mile-and-three-quarters plus.

“Stradivarius did 18, granted, but that level of longevity when you’re tackling staying distances and the most demanding prizes on the Flat, is another attribute that very much puts him in the category of a great as far as we consider it."

Kyprios was one of the highest-rated stayers this century, along with the likes of Stradivarius, Kayf Tara and Subjectivist (all 130), but Le Moss (134) and Ardross (135), two of the greats from the late-1970s and 1980s, achieved higher figures.

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