Ascot Gold Cup: Broome 10/1 after Dubai glory

Andrew McDermott | 26.03.2023

Broome is 10/1 in Coral’s 2023 Ascot Gold Cup betting odds following his success in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan on Saturday.

Broome will take a direct route to the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, with trainer Aidan O’Brien setting his sights on a trip to Australia for the Melbourne Cup at the end of the year.

The seven-year-old has shown his best over middle distances over the last four seasons, with a previous foray over two miles ending in a distant last to Trueshan in the 2020 Long Distance Cup at Ascot.

However, Broome roared back to winning form over the staying trip on Saturday, seeing off Siskany by a neck in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan – his first victory since last year’s Hardwicke Stakes.

Stablemate and defending champion Kyprios is the 5/4 favourite in the Ascot Gold Cup betting odds but is a possible doubt so Broome could end up being his stable’s main contender, with O’Brien also believing he is an ideal candidate to head to Flemington in November.

Broome's CV now includes

🇦🇪 G2 Dubai Gold Cup sponsored by Al Tayer Motor (track record too)
🇫🇷 G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud
🇬🇧 G2 Hardwicke Stakes
🇮🇪 Multiple Group-race victories in Ireland
🇺🇸 @BreedersCup Turf runner-up#DWC23 | @Ballydoyle pic.twitter.com/ear9VX4rjT

— Dubai Racing Club (@RacingDubai) March 25, 2023

He said: “We were very happy. Obviously he’s going to go the Cup route and we’ll look at all those races on the way down to the Melbourne Cup. That’s probably what we’re going to do with him.

“He won’t have to run in the two Irish trials, he can go straight to Ascot. After that he can do Goodwood and all those types of races and then finish off down in Australia.

“He’s seven now and he’s the perfect age to be doing all those races, travelling as an older horse.

“He’s an amazing horse, he was very genuine at Meydan. Looking at him, you’d say we should have stepped him up in trip a lot earlier.”

Kyprios has met with a setback which could prevent him from defending his Gold Cup crown.

He enjoyed the perfect season last year, winning all six of his races. He progressed from scoring in the Vintage Crop and Saval Beg Stakes to go on to glory in the Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup, Irish St Leger and an amazing 20-length success in the Prix du Cadran, despite veering badly in the closing stages.

Kyprios, Goodwood Cup, horse racing

However, O’Brien has revealed that the main player in the division could miss the first half of the campaign.

“With Kyprios we won’t rush him, we’ll take our time with him and see where we go. We’re looking at the autumn with him,” O’Brien told Racing TV.

“He got a little bit of a joint about a month ago and we just need that to settle down. If it does we’ll go on for Ascot and if it doesn’t we’ll have him for the autumn.

“Obviously there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and then and we’ll play it by ear and slot them all in somewhere.”

Looking at the latest Ascot Gold Cup odds, Coral’s John Hill said: “Broome stayed on strongly to prevail in the Dubai Gold Cup, and Aidan O’Brien’s runner is 10/1 to follow that up with success in the Ascot Gold Cup later this year where his stablemate Kyprios is the red-hot favourite to defend his crown.”