Kyprios puts on a show winning Prix du Cadran

The great staying horse Stradivarius was retired last week, but in 4-year-old Kyprios, the European long-distance division still has a star.

Kyprios won his sixth race in a row and fourth straight Group 1 on Saturday at Longchamp, where he annihilated 11 rivals in the Prix du Cadran.

Racing from third or fourth under Ryan Moore most of the 2 1/2-mile trip, Kyprios took the lead with three furlongs remaining without being asked for any run. Even while drifting out radically through the final furlong, going all the way over to the stands side rail, Kyprios won by 20 lengths over Almacado Gree.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien said Kyprios had lost a shoe in midstretch, accounting at least in part for his hanging left. The monumental victory came over the softest going Kyprios ever has encountered, and despite the massive win margin, Kyprios’s final time of 4:31.62 was about 12 seconds slower than the Longchamp par time at the distance.

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Kyprios, who likely won’t race again this year, is by Galileo out of Polished Gem, by Danehill.

Four-year-old filly Sea La Rosa won her first Group 1 earlier on the Longchamp card when she captured the Prix de Royallieu by one length over Jannah Flower. The Australian mare Verry Elleegant, whose connections were upset their horse couldn’t get into Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, finished a distant seventh. William Haggas trains Sea La Rosa and Tom Marquand rode the daughter of Sea The Stars.

* Fonteyn upset the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket as favorites Saffron Beach and Homeless Songs struggled home eighth and seventh, respectively. Neil Callan rode the winner for Kevin Ryan as 4-year-old Fonteyn, a daughter of Farhh and Luzia, by Cape Cross, won her first Group 1. Racing from the front end on a course rated good-to-soft, Fonteyn was home by one length over Laurel, who should have a bright future. The one mile, straight-course Sun Chariot just the third start of Laurel's career and her first try in a group race of any kind.

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