Scandinavia fights off challenge in Leopardstown Gold Cup prep

Scandinavia did not get the kind of smooth tune-up that makes a Gold Cup path look effortless. Instead, the dual Group 1 winner had to fight for every inch at Leopardstown, where his half-length victory in the Saval Beg Levmoss Stakes kept Aidan O’Brien’s Royal Ascot plan alive and made the case that this horse is built for the hard miles ahead.

Sent off at 2-9, Scandinavia was expected to stretch his winning streak to five, but the race asked more questions than the market suggested. Ryan Moore had him travelling well in the 1m6f contest on good ground, tracking old rival Dallas Star before asking for an effort with three furlongs left. Scandinavia moved to the front, then had to repel a serious late run from Happy Pharoah. Le Destrier was third, followed by Leinster, Dallas Star and Mont St Michel in the six-runner race, with the winner collecting €42,000.

That mattered because the Saval Beg is not just another spring Group 3 on Leopardstown’s Friday night card. It has become one of the clearest stepping stones to Royal Ascot’s staying championship, and O’Brien has used it as a launch pad for horses such as Yeats, Fame And Glory, Order of St George and, more recently, Kyprios. Kyprios won the same race in 2025, reinforcing the Ballydoyle pattern: prove the horse can handle a serious test in Dublin, then aim higher at Ascot.

O’Brien had already signalled earlier in the spring that the plan was to go to Leopardstown for the Saval Beg and then on to the Gold Cup. Scandinavia’s latest performance, coming three weeks after his Vintage Crop Stakes win at Navan, suggests that route is still intact. The difference now is that the Leopardstown run showed more than class. It showed grit, and in a staying division where the best horses often win by outlasting pressure rather than dazzling with speed, that is a valuable sign.

Royal Ascot runs from June 16 to June 20, and the Gold Cup comes on Thursday, June 18, over 2m4f. First run in 1807, it remains the race that defines staying power, and O’Brien is chasing a 10th win in it. Scandinavia has not yet gone beyond two miles, but after Leopardstown he looks exactly like the sort of horse who can keep finding when the race turns into a test of will as much as stamina.