Calandagan

Japanese Derby winner Danon Decile (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) announced himself on the world stage with a perfectly-timed slingshot manoeuvre to run out an impressive winner of the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic for trainer Shogo Yasuda and jockey Keita Tosaki. The race is a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf for the first time this year. A mid-race move from William Buick saw defending champion Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) take over the sedate early pace set by what had been billed as the leading Japanese...

It's going to get a little confusing this year with all these painters coming to the fore. Even more confusingly, Henri Matisse (Ire) and Camille Pissarro (Ire) are both by Wootton Bassett (GB) out of mares by Pivotal (GB), and, unsuprisingly, they are no ordinary mares.  Immortal Verse (Ire), the dual Group 1 winner bought for 4.7 million gns as a five-year-old, had already produced the Group 1 and Group 2 winners Tenebrism (Caravaggio) and Statuette (Justify) before Henri Matisse came along and, from a hard-working and high-scoring juvenile campaign...

It is plain to see that the Aga Khan Studs are in excellent hands, but the passing of His Highness the Aga Khan IV nevertheless signals the end of one of the most significant chapters in the long and storied history of Thoroughbred breeding. During his 65-year tenure at the head of the Aga Khan Studs, he presided over a prolonged period of growth, both in the stature and size of the operation, which was consolidated and expanded by the acquisition of stock from other major breeders. Those included Francois...

LONDON, UK -- City Of Troy (Justify) and Laurel River (Into Mischief), owned by two of racing's superpowers, Coolmore and Juddmonte, have been jointly crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2024.  At a ceremony to mark the Longines Racing Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday it was revealed that they had each gained a rating of 128, marking the first time since 2019 that two horses had shared the top spot in the world rankings.  The top-rated performance for City Of Troy came in the G1 Juddmonte...

If the first half of the Flat season is for graduation ceremonies, this is the bit where Masters and PhDs are handed out. To see Ryan Moore sit so beautifully on City Of Troy - and this year's best horse race round Southwell so fluidly - was to feel a surge of anticipation greater than before his seasonal reappearance for the 2,000 Guineas.  We all love spring and the history-laden game of labelling three-year-olds 'Classic' winners. But sorry, late summer and autumn is when we really get ready to rumble....

You wait ages for one gelding capable of spicing up the Arc field to appear - then two come along at once. Expediency is the obvious backdrop to France Galop's move to reconsider the ban on geldings in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but the debate nevertheless goes to the heart of what sport is meant to be: the best against the best.  It's more nuanced and interesting than a straight in-house polemic about Group 1 race conditions. You'd have a hard job selling that one to the general...

A tilt at the Qipco Champion Stakes is on the agenda for Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) after his valiant second to a "true champion" City Of Troy in the Juddmonte International at York. Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, Calandagan proved he belonged at the highest level in chasing home City Of Troy, and now connections are eyeing up a return to Ascot where he has already tasted victory in the King Edward VII Stakes. "He came out of the race really well, I am very pleased to see how he took...

Francis-Henri Graffard may have had to contend with the disappointment of retiring his Classic-winning filly Rouhiya (Fr), but he still has much to look forward to in the coming weeks, not least another trip to Ascot with Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) for Saturday's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Owned by his breeder Baron Philip von Ullmann of Gestut Schlenderhan, the four-year-old was last seen running second to Isle Of Jura (Ire) in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes. Following his win in the G3 Prix d'Hedouville in early May,...