Calandagan wins epic Japan Cup in record time

Calandagan became the first overseas runner in 20 years to win the Japan Cup in an epic edition of the £5 million showpiece on Sunday morning.

The Cartier Horse of the Year, trained by Francis-Henri Graffard and owned by Aga Khan Studs, produced a stirring late finish to repel the challenge of warm favourite Masquerade Ball and lower Almond Eye’s track record - ending a drought that stretches back to 2005, when Luca Cumani and Frankie Dettori combined to win the contest with Alkaased.

Calandagan became only the second French-trained winner of the race after Le Glorieux in 1987, earning connections a huge £2.6 million winner’s purse  plus an extra £2.3 million bonus for landing the King George at Ascot earlier in the year.

Internationals won 12 of the first 17 renewals of the Japan Cup through such as  Singspiel, Pilsudski and Falbrav but Alkaassed had been the last raider to deny the home team.

Mickael Barzalona always looked happy on the four-year-old despite his wide trip, before unleashing Calandagan’s stunning turn of foot down the middle of Tokyo's wide straight.

It looked for a moment like he might get worried out of it by Masquerade Ball in a pulsating battle but Calandagan found extra late on to put his nose in front when it mattered.

Masquerade Ball’s rider Christophe Lemaire was one of two riders to unseat shortly after the line, with Keita Tosaki also unshipped on Danon Decile on his first start since the Juddmonte International.

Calandagan’s season began with defeat in the Coronation Cup, but the four-year-old has gone from strength to strength since, winning four consecutive top-level prizes; the Grand Prix Saint-Cloud, King George, Champion Stakes and now the Japan Cup.

It also completes a quite extraordinary season for Graffard, who has now won more Group One prizes in a single season than any French trainer in history.

He teamed up with Barzalona to win the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with Daryz and Gezora in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“It would be unbelievable if he could lift this prize, which we all know is very difficult to win and hasn’t been achieved much by Europeans – the last was Luca Cumani’s Alkaased 20 years ago,” Nemone Routh, manager for the Aga Khan Studs in France, had said beforehand.

“It’s only been won once by a French horse and that was in 1987 but when he won the Champion Stakes, the last horse who had won the King George and the Champion Stakes was Brigadier Gerard and he has already achieved so much this year.

“Obviously he has won twice in the UK, but he runs there as much as he does France so we can’t call that an international race for him and a big international race is all that is possibly missing from his CV now.

“We’ve only ever run him here and Dubai, but it would just cap an absolutely sensational year and one which started as a difficult year.”

Calandagan’s journey to Japan involved two plane rides and a journey nearing 24 hours, but he rose to the challenge..

Connections have already confirmed that the gelding will remain in training next season.