By Tom Frary
Following his emphatic success in Friday's G2 King Edward VII Stakes, The Aga Khan's Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}–Calayana {Fr}, by Sinndar {Ire}) can arguably lay claim to being France's leading middle-distance performer. While the G1 Prix du Jockey Club passed him by due to his gelding operation and the Arc is not for him for the same reason, the future looks bright for the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained homebred after his six-length success in this mile-and-a-half “Ascot Derby”.
Rewarding a numerically-strong French Royal Ascot challenge this year by becoming the first from the country to win here since 2019, the 11-2 shot, who had won the G3 Prix Noailles and G3 Prix Hocquart, was in his element off the strong Ballydoyle-forged pace. Arriving at the front with menace under Stephane Pasquier passing two out, he surged away to win by daylight and record a time over a second faster than the older horses in the card's Duke of Edinburgh Stakes. Continuing a banner year for the breeding operation, he was followed home by Space Legend (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who in turn had
1 3/4 lengths to spare over the third Royal Supremacy (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}).
“He is a fantastic horse–today he was perfect,” Pasquier said. “The pace was fast enough to come from behind and everything was easy. He can be a naughty boy sometimes and we have to ask him nicely, but today he wanted to do it all and when he is like this, he is a fantastic horse. I didn't do anything, I just asked him to do it by himself.”
Deauville's August Festival's juvenile races are always a rich source of future talent and the Prix de Montaigu chosen for Calandagan's debut saw the unveiling of two notables as he fell short behind the eventual G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Metropolitan (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}). Any prospect of that event hosting a pair of future Classic winners was dashed after Graffard saw the necessity to geld the homebred despite the immense promise of his subsequent 10-length conditions win on Chantilly's Polytrack in October.
What followed this term, as he finished second in the Listed Prix Francois Mathet at Saint-Cloud and recorded his brace of group wins at ParisLongchamp, was obviously mere dress rehearsal for this tour de force in Berkshire as he finally had a ruthless tempo to run towards. Wayne Lordan may have got it right on Chief Little Rock (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 Gallinule Stakes, but he over-cooked things this time to set it up for the closers. Among that contingent, there was only one true Group 1 horse and that was Calandagan as he roared through the final three furlongs in an impressive :36.02, scarily close to the :35.84 recorded by Porta Fortuna in the Coronation over half a mile shorter and over two lengths quicker than Auguste Rodin on Wednesday.
This was arguably the most impressive performance in this race for some time and connections would have greeted it with the customary mix of joy and ruefulness inevitable after a gelding does something so dramatic. “First time out at Deauville, he was very difficult to load and didn't want to try much, so we had no choice but to geld him,” Graffard explained. “I am very impressed–it is just unbelievable how he quickened all the way. I was so down after Rouhiya earlier, but this horse did it very easily. He's not used to a big field like that, but he is very straightforward.”
Princess Zahra Aga Khan was at hand to witness the display and added, “He has been improving over the last few months, but today he surprised all of us and has shown himself to be a very good horse. It is not one of our oldest families, but is a very consistent family. They tend to be a mile-and-a-half horses, but he has a turn of foot that is wonderful to see.”
James Doyle said of Space Legend, who won the best-of-the-rest prize, “The winner's pretty special, isn't he? He quickened up well, but my fellow kept galloping so he'll stay. In time he'll get a bit further as well.”
Pedigree Notes
Calandagan's finishing speed comes from his family, with the G3 Prix Minerve-placed dam Calayana descended from Jean-Luc Lagardere's Clodora (Fr) (Linamix (Fr) who recorded an extremely fast time when winning the Prix de l'Opera in its former guise as a Group 2 over nine furlongs 55 yards. She went on to produce Danehill's G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Clodovil (Ire) and the G3 Gordon Richards S. scorer and GI Arlington Million third Colombian (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}). The listed-placed third dam Clodovina (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) was responsible for Canndal (Fr) (Medicean {GB}), who had the speed to finish second in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational. Calayana's unraced 2-year-old filly is by New Bay (GB), while she also has a yearling filly by Zarak (Fr).
Friday, Royal Ascot, Britain
KING EDWARD VII STAKES-G2, £273,000, Ascot, 6-21, 3yo, c/g, 11f 211yT, 2:29.11, g/f.
1–CALANDAGAN (IRE), 128, g, 3, by Gleneagles (Ire)
1st Dam: Calayana (Fr) (GSP-Fr), by Sinndar (Ire)
2nd Dam: Clariyn (Fr), by Acclamation (GB)
3rd Dam: Clodovina (Ire), by Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire)
O-H H Aga Khan; B-His Highness The Aga Khan's Studs SC (IRE);
T-Francis-Henri Graffard; J-Stephane Pasquier. £154,818.
Lifetime Record: MGSW-Fr, 6-4-1-1, $314,669. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Space Legend (Ire), 128, c, 3, Sea The Stars (Ire)–Newton's
Angel (Ire), by Dark Angel (Ire). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE.
(€270,000 Wlg '21 GOFNO1; 150,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT).
O-Wathnan Racing; B-Sunderland Holdings Inc (IRE); T-William
Haggas. £58,695.
3–Royal Supremacy (Ire), 128, c, 3, Make Believe (GB)–Adelasia
(Ire), by Iffraaj (GB). (65,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Michael
Blencowe; B-John O'Connor (IRE); T-Andrew Balding. £29,375.
Margins: 6, 1 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 5.50, 4.50, 40.00.
Also Ran: Mondo Man (GB), The Euphrates (GB), Macduff (GB), Agenda (Ire), Harper's Ferry (GB), War Rooms (Ire), Diego Velazquez (Ire), Theory Of Tides (GB), Chief Little Rock (Ire), Voyage (GB), Defiance (Ire).
One for France! Calandagan runs away with the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal @Ascot! pic.twitter.com/WkjFvOGJEZ
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 21, 2024
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