Aga Khan Studs don’t race a lot of geldings, but one that they do is Calandagan, who has taken giant strides in 2025 to become the Cartier European Horse of the Year and on Sunday he achieved the almost unthinkable with a history making win in the Group I Japan Cup (2400m).
A notable G1 bridesmaid earlier in his career, the Francis- Henri Graffard trained four year-old son of Gleneagles now seemingly has a taste for winning the big ones.
He reeled off his fourth consecutive G1 win in Tokyo on Sunday when producing a tenacious effort to outpoint the Japanese favourite Masquerade Ball to win by a head in a thriller.
Mickael Barzalona settled him in midfield and let him work through his gears down the straight as he surged to the line to break Almond Eye's record time with the clock stopped at 2m20.30.
The gelding enjoyed a lucrative pay day winning an amazing £2.6 million for the victory in prize-money and an additional £2.3m bonus, having won the King George, one of the qualifying races in the invitation bonus scheme.
Francis-Henri Graffard has enjoyed a best ever 2025 with Calandagan putting the icing on the cake.
"I was really nervous before the race. It's one thing bringing the best horse in the world to this race but he faced a really high-quality field. Everything seemed to go well, but I was looking for Christophe Lemaire and he seemed to get a dream run through,” he said.
"He went a head up and I thought we were beaten but he's tough and he battled back. He's an exceptional horse to have put his head in front on the line."
With eight wins from 14 starts, Calandagan is the best of three winners from three foals to race from Group III placed Sinndar mare with third dam Clodovina, a stakes-placed three-quarter sister to Group I winner Clodovil.
Calandagan is the best performer for Galileo sire Gleneagles who stands at Coolmore at a fee of €20,000 in 2026.
