‘A Real Champion’: Calandagan Wows Japan With Record-Breaking Cup Victory

[Wandering Eyes]

TOKYO, JAPAN — It turns out that it takes the world's best horse to win what what will surely be judged for the second time in three years to have been the world's best race.

For 20 years the Europeans have come and failed to conquer but Calandagan (Gleneagles), already at the summit of the world rankings for 2025 and with Mount Fuji as the backdrop for his most towering challenge to date, lowered the record of the great Almond Eye when outbattling race favourite Masquerade Ball (Duramente) to win the 45th running of the Japan Cup. 

They say that two out of three ain't bad and, in a pinch-me year for trainer Francis Graffard and the team at the Aga Khan Studs, they have combined to have two of the top three horses in the world rankings. This week the name of the Arc winner Daryz (Sea The Stars) has been mentioned more than once in press conferences by racing manager Nemone Routh and then by Princess Zahra Aga Khan after Sunday's victory, but this particular day was owned by Calandagan, a reformed character from his juvenile season whose only tearaway characteristics now are in streaking home to glory. 

Mickael Barzalona, too, was a flamboyant youngster, notably when standing in his irons to salute the crowd at Epsom before he was even over the line in the Derby, but the jockey's transition into a calm and collected professional is now complete, along with that of his horse.

In a dramatic start to the race which saw Yuga Kawada ejected from the stumbling Admire Terra on leaving the stalls, Barzalona had Calandagan switched off towards the rear of the remaining 16 runners, travelling smoothly, eyes presumably fixed on the imaginary target on Christophe Lemaire's back aboard Masquerade Ball.

Moving up on the outside of the favourite mid-stretch, Barzalona temporarily had Lemaire pinned for room as Shin Emperor weakened in his run, but the looming pair shifted out just enough for both to pass last year's runner-up with ease. From there the battle commenced, with Calandagan and Masquerade Ball locked together to the line. Only the grey Admire Terra could pass them, and he was unencumbered by the weight of a rider. 

“We were a little bit caught for speed in the early part of the race but Mickael caught a good lead behind Christophe Lemaire,” said Graffard. “He travelled the whole way behind the right horse in the race so that gave me a lot of confidence, and then we then never had any trouble in running especially into the last bend, and the horse after that has been really brave.”

The trainer still has some important work to be done in Hong Kong in a fortnight's time, but with the year he's had already – winning Classics, a Breeders' Cup and three Group 1 races with Calandagan alone prior to today – it could have been imagined that the pressure may be off a little when it came to this challenge at the end of a long season for the four-year-old. One look at Graffard's face before the race told another story, however, especially with a recently earned title to uphold. 

“I was really stressed today. I knew I was bringing the best horse in the world and I was re-exposing him in a race that is almost impossible to win,” he said. Almost, but not quite. And in achieving the near-impossible Calandagan collected the equivalent of $3.3m in prize-money, with a further $3m bonus as the winner of a selection of Group 1 races in Europe this year. Just one would have done but he had three to choose from.

“I said to myself it wasn't really fair on the horse to ask that of him and I really felt that pressure today. I thought to myself it would be awful to have take him back home to his box where there would be a plaque saying best horse in the world and for his year to end in disappointment,” he continued.

“We were asking him to do something quite incredible after he had already proved he was the best, so I felt an enormous weight on my shoulders. I love taking on the big challenges but this morning I was really wondering why were putting ourselves through it.”

For Princess Zahra, there must also be pressure in striving to uphold the standards which have been set down over the last century by three generations of her forebears. The Aga Khan Studs, founded by her great grandfather Aga Khan III, have become a byword for excellence in Thoroughbred breeding. Her father's long tenure ended only with his passing in February. 

Racing in Japan has existed for almost the same amount of time that the Aga Khan Studs have been in existence, and the leaders in this nation have steadily amassed a national broodmare band whose offspring have become the envy of the old world order. This emergence of Japan as one of the global leaders in bloodstock has of course not been lost on Princess Zahra, who on Saturday inspected the impressive line-up of sires at Hokkaido's Shadai Stallion Station. It surely won't be long before one or two of them are visited by mares from the Aga Khan Studs. 

“It has been a very good year thanks to the people sitting next to me and to the rest of the team,” she said, positioned between Graffard and Barzalona after a lengthy presentation ceremony during which she looked almost embarrassed to receive gift after prize after medal and then, best of all, the Japan Cup itself. 

“It's the best year we've had in a very long time. Of course I miss my father very much. He was very involved, but in terms of the operation, I think we continue to do what we do and with our new training policies, thanks to Francis and the collaboration with Mickael, we've had a very good year.”

She continued, “Calandagan has shown himself to be an improving horse throughout the year and I think both Francis and Mickael have learned how to read the horse and to bring him to the best place on the right day at the right time.

“Calandagan, as Francis said from 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.”

Of her visit to Shadai with her team of Pat Downes, Nemone Routh and Pierre Gasnier, she added, “As a breeding operation it is fascinating to see the bloodlines that exist in this country that are actually remote from the European bloodlines that we have today. It is very interesting to me to see what Japan has produced in terms of stallions, in terms of bloodlines, and I think it is going to be fascinating to see what those bloodlines produce in the future.”

The development of those bloodlines has indeed been seen to increasingly devastating effect around the world. At home, the development of the sport of racing is equally impressive. Under a spotless blue sky 77,029 fans crammed into the vast Tokyo grandstand, lining the parade ring ten deep at least and creating a wall of sound as the race reached its climax that is surely unmatched at any racecourse. 

It was clear that for many professionals involved in the Japan Cup that there was a sense of pride that the race had this year attracted the top-rated Calandagan. The local racing fans may have preferred their favoured Tenno Sho winner Masquerade Ball to prevail – and he only went down by a head at the line, with the last two Derby winners Danon Decile (Epiphaneia) and Croix Du Nord (Kitasan Black) filling the minor places – but they know a good horse when they see one. Calandagan was duly afforded the hero's welcome that he deserved as he was brought back out to the track for the presentation ceremony. 

“He's a real champion, as everybody saw today,” Graffard said. “Mickael has so much faith in this horse and he's never let him down.”

Calandagan, only the second French-trained horse to win the Japan Cup since Le Glorieux in 1987, was serenaded after his triumph by the on-course band playing Land of Hope and Glory. At first it seemed an incongruous anthem but, for his own Last Night of the Proms, a quest that began in hope and some trepidation for Calandagan's connections had indeed ended in unforgettable glory.

 

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