French stayer Calandagan wins the Japan Cup

Calandagan has become the first overseas horse to take out the Japan Cup since Luca Cumani’s success with Alkaased twenty year ago and he is the first French trained winner since the Robert Colet trained Le Glorieux in 1987.

It was the fourth successive Group 1 win for the Francis-Henri Graffard trained runner, who won away from home, against the odds, soaking up extreme pressure in manner befitting of a runner who tops the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.

Adding further impact to the merit of the win was the fact that Calandgan stopped the clock in 2:20.3 setting a new mark as he lowered Almond Eye’s previous Japan Cup record.

Calandagan was ridden by Mickael Barzalona, who had to draw on all of his and Calandagan’s resources to beat the very game Masquerade Ball by a head, getting up in the final strides after a rousing battle over the concluding stages.