Qipco British Champion Stakes
“Calandagan”
There has been lots of debate over who is the World’s best racehorse. I don’t want to get into the realms of trying to settle that debate here. Ka Ying Rising was absolutely outstanding in the Everest on Saturday, Sovereignty has produced some incredible displays on the dirt in the US and cases can be made for both. However, after a truly stunning performance in the Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, a case can now also be made for the Francis-Henri Graffard trained Calandagan. He’s the best horse in Europe. Let’s agree on that. This is why;
I’ll begin with an analysis of the time. A winning time of 2:03.19 made this the fastest winning time since this race was switched to Ascot as part of Champions Day in 2011. The ground clearly paid a significant part in that as it did with the record setting times in the Champion Sprint, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Long Distance Cup. However, on drying ground, Calandagan ran a winning time that was 8.11s faster than the TPD Expected time for a Class 1 race on good ground over this course and distance. That’s an impressive sound bite and I should add the caveat that there won’t have been too many horses with the class and ability of Calandagan that have run over this course and distance, especially with the benefit of relatively fast ground in October, but the overall time figure is exceptional. To add some further context to it, Calandagan was just 0.68s slower than the winning time recorded by Ombudsman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal meeting on ground described as “Good to Firm” in June. That may also be a slight reflection on the ground, particularly on the round course, given that Calandagan was 2.12s faster than the expected time figure on Good to Firm too.
The overall time was certainly helped by the presence of a couple of pacemakers for the principles in the market, Mount Kilimanjaro and Devil’s Advocate. The latter was the fastest horse in the race for furlongs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 as he reached the halfway point in 1:14.49. Visually this appeared fast and it was, although they were still over a second slower than the pace setting Continuous had been in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in the Summer. A finishing speed of 105.8% from the winner, compared to the 101.7% recorded by the 3rd placed Almaqam, who was ridden more prominently than the other horses that hit the frame, does highlight the amount of ground made up by Calandagan in the straight. With 3 furlongs to run, he was 0.93s behind Almaqam, but he came home in furlongs of 11.34, 11.54 and 12.19s, the last 2 of which were the fastest in the field, as he made up 1.6s (approximately 8 lengths) on the 3rd over the closing stages. Whilst it would be important to highlight the fact that Calandagan has form over 12 furlongs this year and as a result, his stamina for a well run race over 10 furlongs was more assured than most, the performance metrics would suggest that he has now proven himself to be equally effective over the 10 furlong trip.
Let’s look at those metrics. Calandagan took 6.6s to reach 30 mph when the stalls opened which ranked him 9th in the field, recording 14.08s for the opening furlong. That is to a certain degree irrelevant given that he is normally ridden patiently and with pacemakers in the field, he wasn’t likely to feature prominently in the early battle for the lead. However, that early pace has made a significant difference to the way the race panned out and from halfway onwards, Calandagan moved into the spotlight. His Top Speed figure of 40.76 mph ranked 3rd (behind both Economics and Ombudsman), but in the latter stages, he asserted. We have already covered that he ran the fastest final 2 furlongs splits in the field, but he was able to do so because he was suited by the pace and he was able to use his long stride, a race highest average of 24.81 ft, to stretch away from Ombudsman in the straight. When we break down the average stride length data over each individual furlong, it shows that Calandagan recorded the longest average stride in the field for 8 of the 10 furlongs, including the last 2 furlongs. His stride length data dropped from a race peak of 7.69m (3rd furlong) to 7.34m in the final furlong, a drop of 0.35m or 4.56%. To be fair to Ombudsman, his figures are very similar, dropping from a race peak of 7.29m (6th furlong) to 6.96m in the final furlong, a drop of 0.33m or 4.53%. However, by recording a consistently longer stride and more importantly, being positioned ahead of Ombudsman by Mickael Barzalona on the run into the straight, he was perfectly positioned to outstay his main rival. Once in front of Ombudsman and meeting the rising ground, there was only likely to be one winner and Calandagan rounded off this stellar performance with the best run-out speed in the field at 34.09 mph.
If we make the assumption that Ombudsman has run his race, which appears likely given the fact that he ranked in the top 3 for each of the final 3 furlongs and his run-out speed (33.11 mph), then this would help to build a case for this being one of the best performances in the world this year, certainly over a middle distance. Ombudsman recorded a faster top speed figure on Saturday than he did in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in the Summer and his average stride length and stride frequency figures are very similar. There’s no reason to think that he didn’t run to form and he was faster than Calandagan in the 7th and 8th furlongs (11.77 and 11.28s), but he simply couldn’t stay with the French horse in the straight. Given that Ombudsman sets a very high standard from his earlier Ascot performance, the fact that the data suggest there was a significant gap between him and Calandagan, it’s hard to make any case against Francis-Henri Graffard’s 4-year-old.
Graffard has had an exceptional season, winning 12 Group 1 races, including the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe with Daryz a fortnight ago and this victory for Calandagan has crowned a superb season for him on both sides of the Channel. The resurgence of the Aga Khan Stud colours can be attributed to his success and the decision to appoint Mickael Barzalona as their retained jockey. A fact born out by a pair of superb rides on Calandagan at Ascot in 2025. The winner is a gelding, which is fantastic news for racing fans because it means that he will be back next year. On Saturday, Calandagan reached his peak (so far) and every piece of data would suggest that this was a performance that will be talked about for years to come.