IT would have been understandable had Princess Zahra Aga Khan, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard and the Aga Khan Studs management team drawn stumps on the season for their star performer and Cartier Horse of the Year, Calandagan (Gleneagles), after his third successive Group 1 win of the season. While victory for Daryz in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was the most special win of the year for the Princess, what happened at the weekend in Japan will have come a close second.

Last month, Calandagan became the fourth horse bred by the Aga Khan Studs to be crowned Cartier Horse of the Year following Daylami (1999), Dalakhani (2003) and Zarkava (2008), and this time it was poignant as it followed the passing of His Highness Aga Khan IV in February. Calandagan was given the accolade after he had enjoyed a superb campaign, defeating top-class opposition in three Group 1 races, the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the QIPCO Champion Stakes. Brigadier Gerard more than half a century ago is the only other horse in history to win the last two races in the same season.

Receiving the award, Princess Zahra Aga Khan expressed her feelings, and said: “Calandagan is a very special horse. He has been trained by a very wonderful trainer, and this is a very special moment for us because Nemone [Routh - racing manager] and I have been working on this together for almost 30 years and the whole team has really contributed to this. It is wonderful. Francis has done an amazing job, as has Mickael Barzalona and all the team at the stud and the stables.”

She was questioned about the season and her own personal highlights. She said: “That is a difficult question, I suppose I would have to say the Arc, just because it was so poignant for me. That was a very special day, but they all have been – every winner is a winner. This makes me remember that both Clodovina and Linamix are in this horse’s pedigree, so therefore I would like to remember Jean-Luc Lagardère, who bred his great grandam, and my dad.”

Ultimate accolade

The Horse of the Year award is the ultimate equine accolade, and Calandagan won the Cartier Older Horse award as well, with his trainer adding: “It has been an incredible season and he is an incredible horse, so I’m delighted for him.”

Asked which was the horse’s best performance, Graffard said: “The Champion Stakes – I was dropping him back in distance and the field was very strong. The ground was good, which was fantastic for the sport, and we saw a fantastic race. I was delighted to win this race. The horse was unbelievable, is progressing, and I was happy to see that.”

The trainer concluded by saying: “He is actually on the plane going to Japan. It is going to be a very tough challenge, but I think I have the right horse to take on that challenge, and hopefully it goes well next week.” Now we know that it went swimmingly.

Though the trainer believed he had the right horse for Japan, Graffard later revealed that he was ultra-nervous about the challenge, as he was trying to bridge a gap of two decades since the last European-trained horse won the Group 1 Japan Cup. As many will warrant, the travel, time of year and the strength of the local challenge all conspire to make it a real mountain to climb. This trip to Japan also says a great deal about a slightly different approach to racing that marks Princess Zahra’s new era in charge.

In a recent interview with Pat Downes for the Irish Racing Yearbook, he told me: “Zahra’s attitude is different. If she gets a recommendation from one of the trainers, and this year it’s generally been Francis, then she’s pretty happy to go with that. Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won’t, but it’s certainly an area where we’re seeing a bit of a change.” Her bravery in going to Japan, at the end of an arduous season for the four-year-old Calandagan, was another case of the strategy working. This was a sixth run of the year, all at Group 1 level, for the gelding, and less than two lengths is all that separeated him from winning all six of them. If his trainer is correct, and he is getting better, one can only imagine what 2026 could be like, with the team having Daryz to race also.

€7 million

This latest success, in race record time, has taken Calandagan’s winnings to some €7 million, and comes from eight wins in 14 starts. He has never been out of the first three. Eight of those starts have been in Group 1 races, all of his most recent runs, and four victories in succession were preceded by four runner-up places, something that had many questioning his resolve. How he has proven them wrong.

Calandagan is one of six top-flight winners for Coolmore’s impeccably-bred, four-time Group 1 winner Gleneagles (Galileo). Mill Stream (July Cup), Palladium (German Derby), Highland Chief (Man O’War Stakes) and Loving Dream (Prix de Royallieu) were joined this year by Calandagan and Arrow Eagle (Prix Royal-Oak). Gleneagles is one of the most versatile stallions at stud, and now has 28 group or graded stakes winners, and 43 in total. He has also sired a Grade 1 hurdle winner.

Calandagan is the first stakes winner in three generations of his family, though Canndal (Medicean), a son of his third dam Clodovina (Rock Of Gibraltar), was runner-up in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby. As mentioned at the Cartier awards by Princess Zahra, Clodovina was acquired from Jean-Luc Lagardère. The Aga Khan Studs sold Calandagan’s second and third dams, in addition to many of their offspring, but they retain his dam Calayana (Sinndar), and all but one of her offspring.

This is an example of staying loyal to a family, in spite of the fact that quality performers had been lacking in a generation or two. Credit where it is due to the Aga Khan Studs’ perseverance.

Best performance

Trained by Alain de Royer-Dupré, Calandagan’s dam Calayana ran at three and four, winning each year, and put up her best performance when second to the Group 1 winner God Given in the Group 3 Prix Minerve at Deauville. Her first foal, two-time winner Caliyza (Le Havre), was sold for €100,000 at three, and again last year for 155,000gns, her value boosted by the emergence of Calandagan. Then she was purchased by Overbury Stallions, covered this year by Gleneagles, and sold at Tattersalls this week, due in March, for 850,000gns to Ace Stud, topping the opening day of the December Mare Sale.

Calayana is responsible for three winners with her first three foals, as her three-year-old daughter Calamandra (New Bay) won on her debut in May and was since group-placed. Calayana has a two-year-old filly Calasita (Zarak), a yearling filly by Palace Pier (Kingman), and is due to Siyouni (Pivotal).

Clodovina was purchased 20 years ago. While the Aga Khan bought the entire Lagardére bloodstock and racing interests early in 2005, Clodovina was actually sold to Georges Rimaud as a yearling at Goffs for €60,000. Her half-brother Clodovil (Danehill) won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, and another sibling was Colombian (Azamour), a Group 3 winner who placed in the Grade 1 Arlington Million.