Kyprios, a winner of 17 races, eight Group 1s and two Gold Cups at Royal Ascot, has run his last race. The seven-year-old has been retired from racing due to an injury, Coolmore Stud announced on Tuesday morning.

The son of Galileo is an entire horse and expected to have a career at stud.

Trained by Aidan O'Brien for breeders Moyglare Stud and the Coolmore partners, Kyprios won both his starts already this season and was favourite to win a third Gold Cup at Ascot next month.

However, his odds had begun to lengthen following his Leopardstown success on May 16th, after which he was briefly lame.

O'Brien reported that the horse was sound again shortly afterwards but on Tuesday morning Coolmore announced: "Due to an aggravation of an old ringbone lesion we have decided to take no chances with Kyprios and although he is currently sound and doing well the decision has been made to retire him from racing."

Kyprios raced 21 times, winning 17 starts. He made a winning debut as a two-year-old and was considered a Derby candidate in early 2021 before being reinvented as a stayer as a four-year-old in 2022. He completed a remarkable four-timer that season, winning the Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup (following an epic battle with Stradivarius), the Irish St Leger and the Prix du Cadran by an astonishing 20 lengths.

An injury in 2023 almost proved fatal for Kyprios. The joint capsule in his off-fore fetlock became infected. The injury can cause a total loss of use of the limb and therefore is life-threatening.

Explaining how serious the injury was, and the work required to get the horse back to full health, Aidan O'Brien said: "It’s a million to one, it’s almost impossible to come back from what he came back from.

“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.

“Then we had to teach him how to trot and how to canter, this was before a rider ever went near him.

“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.

“It shouldn’t have happened, I don’t know how it happened. I think it was because of all the people around him who did so much, day in, day out, and were so committed. Everyone put him first.

“I have never experienced anything within 100 miles of it. He got an infection in his joint and it got into his joint capsule, usually what happens then is that they lose the movement in the joint – and for a while he did, but it came back.

“It shouldn’t have happened, to come back like that, but it happened. Nothing is impossible.”

Because of the injury, Kyprios only ran twice in 2023, finishing second in both the Irish St Leger and the Champions Long Distance Cup.

But he returned to his brilliant best in 2024, winning all seven of his starts - the Vintage Crop at Navan, the Saval Beg at Leopardstown, the Gold Cup, the Goodwood Cup, the Irish St Leger, the Prix du Cadran and the Long Distance Cup at Ascot.

Kyprios was on track to do the same this season until injury intervened.

By Galileo, Kyprios is our of Polished Gem. He is a brother to Chester Cup winner Falcon Eight, and Irish St Leger winner Search For A Song. He is closely related to Group 1 winner Free Eagle.