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Aidan O'Brien hailed his superstar stayer Kyprios after the six-year-old moved out on his own in esteemed company with his eighth Group 1 victory.

Kyprios' Prix du Cadran success - his second in the race following his 2022 triumph at the same venue - means he now has more elite level wins to his name than any other horse trained by O'Brien.

The son of Galileo has been one of the stars of 2024 and remains unbeaten across the calendar year, a run he may get a chance to extend at Ascot on British Champions Day in a fortnight.

"The dream is that if everything is well with him he might go back to Ascot in two weeks and then have the winter off," said O'Brien. "Then he’ll have his two preps for the Gold Cup next year. That’s what we’ll dream about."

"He’s one of these horses that loves being in training.

"Some horses prefer to be on holiday but a lot of the good horses prefer to be in training.

"He likes his routine in the morning and in the evening; he sleeps and eats and exercises. He goes through all his physio and loves every bit of it. When you see him walking from one bit he marches to the next stage. He’s a very unusual horse like that."

Illinois ✅
Kyprios ✅
Mount Kilimanjaro ✅
Grateful ✅

FOUR winners on the opening day of Arc weekend for the remarkable Aidan O'Brien and team @Ballydoyle 🤩#GreenTeam | @FranceGalop pic.twitter.com/AIV1uwXFpT

— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) October 5, 2024

Kyprios' success was part of a remarkable four-timer for O'Brien on the opening day of Arc weekend.

Illinois, second in the English St Leger at Doncaster in September, went one better to land the Qatar Prix Chaudenay before Kyprios' success.

Exciting two-year-old son of Siyouni, Mount Kilimanjaro, then completed a hat-trick for O'Brien and jockey Ryan Moore with his success in the Haras de Bouquetot Criterium d'Automne.

And a glorious day was completed for team Ballydoyle when Christophe Soumillon piloted Grateful to victory in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu.

Soumillon, who described O'Brien as 'the best trainer in the world', said: "It's always important to win races on big weekends like this, and when you see the form that Aidan brings today on the track, you just hope all the rest are in the same shape.

"If all his horses run great today, I'm sure they're going to do the same tomorrow. When you have the luck to ride for such big trainers, owners and breeders, you just close your eyes and let the flow go."

A great weekend could become an all-timer for O'Brien tomorrow - he has the joint-favourite, Los Angeles, among his runners in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.