Leading stayer Kyprios has met with a setback which could prevent him from defending his Gold Cup crown at Royal Ascot.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Kyprios enjoyed the perfect season last year, winning all six of his races.

He progressed from scoring in the Vintage Crop and Saval Beg Stakes before going 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.

However, on a weekend when O’Brien saw another of his inmates, Broome, emerge as a Cup horse with a victory in Dubai, he 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.”