Masquerade Ball

With a rating of 130, the Aga Khan Studs homebred Calandagan has been crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2025, ahead of five horses from four different countries who all tied for second on a rating of 128. At a ceremony to mark the Longines Racing Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday, it was confirmed that the performance of Calandagan when winning October's G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot was the best produced by any racehorse on the planet last year. The son of Gleneagles - who also...

TOKYO, JAPAN -- For 20 years the Japan Cup has remained at home. Alkaased (Kingmambo) was the last foreign raider to wrest it from the locals, winning in 2005 for the Italian-born, British-based combo of Luca Cumani and Frankie Dettori. This time around, for the 45th running of the race, the international challenge has been whittled to just one - but he's a good one: Calandagan. The son of Gleneagles, who will jump from stall eight, is the third runner in the race for Francis Graffard, who sent out Erupt...

Race favourite Masquerade Ball, making his first appearance on a racecourse since chasing home Croix Du Nord (Kitasan Black) in June's G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), made the breakthrough at the top level with a comfortable success in Sunday's Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo Racecourse. Trained by Takahisa Tezuka, Masquerade Ball was allowed to settle in mid-division for much of the 2,000-metre contest. The Duramente colt was caught behind horses as the field closed in on the leader approaching the final turn, having to wait for horses on his outside...

Group 1 winners lie thicker in the field than the falling leaves on the ground in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn), set for Sunday in Kyoto. However, it is G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) runner-up Masquerade Ball (Duramente) who leads in the advance markets as an 8-5 chance against 13 rivals, seven of them Group 1 scorers. Yet to salute at the highest level, the 2024 Listed Ivy Stakes winner's only blip in six lifetime starts was an unplaced run to his Derby conqueror Croix Du Nord (Kitasan Black) in...

Despite losing his unbeaten tag to Museum Mile (Leontes) in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), Croix Du Nord still carries the burden of favouritism in Sunday's G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). Never tested at the 2400-metre trip, the son of Kitasan Black and the Cape Cross mare Rising Cross went three-for three in his juvenile season and put an exclamation point on his career thus far in the G1 Hopeful Stakes, defeating Giovanni (Epiphaneia). The Japanese Champion 2-Year-Old Colt will leave from stall 13 in the 18-horse field...