Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Group 1)

THE wheel of fortune turns pretty fast in most sports and racing is no exception, as last Sunday’s action at Saint-Cloud proved.

A fortnight earlier, trainer Francis Graffard had carried all before him at Chantilly, landing a pattern race treble and dominating the finish of the feature Prix de Diane.

Then came Royal Ascot, and Graffard had to watch on as his five fancied runners were all defeated, most gallingly Zarigana, who refused to exert herself fully in the closing stages of the Coronation Stakes.

At Saint-Cloud, another much-maligned inmate of the Graffard yard, Calandagan, was its flagship contender in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, and he came through his test with flying colours.

Four consecutive Group 1 second places had caused some to question this Gleneagles gelding’s appetite for a battle, but it was hard to crab his effort here, as he stormed past a solid yardstick in the shape of the Arc runner-up, Aventure, to score by three and a half lengths.

What is more, Graffard and owner-breeders the Aga Khan’s Studs also landed the other showpiece event on the card, the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam, with an exciting prospect in the shape of the unbeaten Sea The Stars colt, Daryz.

Silenced the doubters

Sent off at long odds-on in a field of five, Calandagan silenced the doubters in great style in a race run at an honest enough tempo thanks to the efforts of Junko, who was always likely to make the running since a decent pace benefited the chance of the second favourite, his fellow Wertheimer brothers-owned contender, Aventure.

Having raced in third and fourth places respectively, the two market leaders settled down to fight out what seemed set to be a tight finish approaching the final furlong, only for Calandagan to draw right away in the final 100 yards.

In hindsight, those previous reverses had come in some of the biggest events on the global calendar and Calandagan had some exceptional horses behind him, so to suddenly label him a ‘professional loser’ was highly premature.

Graffard’s reaction was to exclaim, with a laugh: “He’s not a slacker! I never lost confidence in him and he was very impressive today.

“Mickael [Barzalona, his jockey] said that even today he occasionally had to keep him concentrating to stay in touch during the race, but he has the ability to produce a big acceleration.

Improved a lot

“On both of his previous runs this season it has been a comeback of sorts for him and I think that he improved a lot from when he was beaten by Jan Brueghel at Epsom. We need to talk things through, but my inclination is to go for the King George with him next, he has showed in the past that he acts well at Ascot.”

Graffard admitted that it was back to the drawing board for his 2024 King George hero, Goliath, who dropped out very quickly to finish last on Sunday, while a far from downhearted Christophe Ferland suggested that it would be the Prix Jean Romanet next for Aventure.

Adam a ‘mess’

The Eugene Adam was a mess of a race, thanks to a complete lack of pace, but Juddmonte International-bound Daryz could do no more than win, defeating the handily-positioned British raider Bay City Roller by three-quarters of a length with Sinileo a neck back in third, having been outpaced when the tempo finally lifted.

Forced to make the running, Joseph O’Brien’s Scorthy Champ could finish no better than fifth of the six runners.