Calandagan Primed For Dubai Sheema Classic After Racecourse Gallop

[Wandering Eyes]

Multiple group winner Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) pleased his connections with a strong gallop at Saint-Cloud on Thursday, according to trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. The Aga Khan runner is pointing toward the $6-million G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Apr. 5.

“All winter we decided he was a horse for the Sheema Classic,” the trainer told Dubai Racing Club. “Unfortunately we have trial races at Chantilly on the polytrack and the difference between the two races was too big and I would have had to rush him coming out of the winter so I decided not to do that and take him straight to the Sheema Classic.”

Jockey Mickael Barzalona was aboard for Thursday's work.

“Mickael Barzalona was pleased with the horse and I think he will come on a lot for it,” said Graffard. “The ground was good today [Thursday] at Saint-Cloud so it was very positive for the horse and he needed going out of the yard and getting back into the rhythm of a race on the racecourse. It was very positive and the gallop went really well.”

A winner of the G3 Prix Noailles, G3 Prix Hocquart–both at ParisLongchamp–and the G2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot in first half of 2024, Calandagan would run with credit without winning in his final two performances of the year. Given a short break, he was second to City Of Troy (Justify) in the G1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August and filled that position again in the G1 QIPCO Champion Stakes in the wake of Anmaat (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}) on Oct. 19.

Graffard is keen to keep his charge at 1 1/2 miles in 2025 and added, “He's a horse that needs to get into his rhythm in the early part of the race so I think he's better suited by a mile and a half. The plan is to keep him to mile and a half races this year.”

In the Dubai Sheema Classic, Calandagan could face the likes of Group 1 winners Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Al Riffa (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Danon Decile (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}), Calif (Ger) (Areion {Ger}) and Cervinia (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), among others.

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