Fourth choice CALANDAGAN (Ire) (Gleneagles (Ire) – Calayana (Fr) by Sinndar (Ire)) became the first foreign-based horse to win the Japan Cup since Alkaased in 2005 and the second French-trained horse since Le Glorieux in 1987. At the same time, Calandagan set a course record for 1 1/2 miles on turf of 2:20.3 — the former record (2:20.6) was set by Almond Eye in the 2018 Japan Cup.
The time is also said to be a world record, crushing the previous record of 2:22.72 set by Bright Thought at Santa Anita in March 2013.
Now the four-year-old gelding has extended his winning streak to four after his titles in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1, 2,400m) in June, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1, 2,390m) in July and the Champion Stakes (G1, 1,990m) in October. With this win, the son of Gleneagles has earned, in addition to the prize money of 500 million yen, a bonus of $3 million. Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard registered his first victory in his fourth Japan Cup challenge after finishing sixth in 2015 and 14th in 2016 with Erupt, as well as a sixth with Goliath last year. Jockey Mickael Barzalona scored his fourth graded victory — including titles won under JRA’s short-term licenses — and first G1 title in JRA.
Calandagan, a four-year-old bay gelding owned by the Aga Khan Studs and trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, is now rated as the Longines World’s Top Racehorse.
The field broke off in front of the heavily packed stands with Admire Terra unseating his jockey immediately after the break as Seiun Hades was rushed to the front to set a rapid pace. While the pacesetter gradually outdistanced himself from the rest of the field, Calandagan traveled fifth from the rear, a couple of lengths behind Masquerade Ball and on the shoulder of Danon Decile. Entering the straight, the gelding drew even with Masquerade Ball and, after picking off other rivals, the two showcased a nail-biting duel leading to a photo finish in the last 150 meters, but it was Calandagan who got the best of the duel with the fastest finishing speed right to beat the three-year-old favorite at the wire in a head victory.
Princess Zahra, daughter of the late Aga Khan spoke after the race. “Calandagan is a good horse, he’s trained and has improved throughout the year. Both Francis and Mickael know how to read the horse and bring him to the best place on the right day at the right time. I don’t think our operation has ever had a Japan Cup runner before because we didn’t have a horse for the day. Calandagan, as Francis said to me at the beginning of the year, was the horse for this race and he had planned this for a very long time. I wasn’t sure in March that we were going to get here. But it’s very amazing, the enthusiasm — we went to Shadai yesterday and saw the stallions there and the breeding operations, it’s fascinating to see the bloodlines that exist in this country — very actually remote to the European bloodlines we have today standing in Europe, so it’s very interesting to me to see what Japan has produced in terms of stallions and bloodlines and I think it’s going to be fascinating to see what those bloodlines do in the future.”
Calandgan has a record of eight wins in 14 starts and earnings of $8,048,849. He is the second foal of his dam Calayana, who was Group 3 placed. Calayana has produced a three-year-old, Calamadra, who is Group placed. The Aga Khan-bred and -raced second dam Clariyn (Ire) and raced third dam Clodovina (Ire), dam of Canndal (Fr) who was second in the 2015 Belmont Derby (G1).
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