Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud: Calandagan

Calandagan has his Group 1 victory. The phrase “he deserved one” is not one of my favourite points in racing as it would usually imply that a horse has found ways not to win, but in hindsight, it applies perfectly to Calandagan. He has bumped into City of Troy, Anmaat, Danon Decile and Jan Brueghel, all of which are 120+ Flat performers. There’s no shame in chasing home horses of that calibre. Sunday’s Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud might be seen as an easier Group 1, but that would be a very harsh reflection on a field that included 4 rivals who all have Group 1 form on their CVs. Yes, Junko is perhaps not operating at the level that he once was and both Aventure and Iresine would probably prefer a softer surface, but Calandagan beat them all by 3-lengths and finished his race in 33.67s from the 600m pole. For some context, that was 0.81s faster than the runner-up and included the fastest furlong in the race when he ran 10.76s for the penultimate split. Perhaps more importantly, he broke on terms from the stalls, which had been his Achilles heel in the past. This wasn’t a particularly outstanding winning time when we compare it to the recent winners of this race (both Westover and Alpinista were faster) and with a finishing speed of 110% this race was a much easier test than Epsom. However, he showed all of his class and dispelled any doubts about his attitude to cruise past Aventure, who had won her first 2 starts of the season and arrived here in peak condition. When asked by Mickael Barzalona, he lengthened in the 11th furlong, taking just 24 strides to cover the ground and once alongside the Wertheimer pair, he quickly dispatched them. I’d still prefer him to race over 10-furlongs as I think the turn-of-foot that he possesses is better suited to that trip, but a “French-Style” race over 12 is well within his range. Following this victory, he is as short as 4/1 for the King George at Ascot in July, where he will meet Jan Brueghel once again. I haven’t seen anything in the 3-year-old crop to be concerned about, but the data from this race does not convince me that he can reverse that form. Ascot is a better track than Epsom for his style of racing, but we can now say with confidence that Jan Brueghel won the Coronation Cup with stamina and given that Ballydoyle and Ryan Moore will know that, similar tactics seem likely to bring the same result.

This race wasn’t just about Calandagan. Goliath was eased quickly once beaten and hopefully everything is OK with him, but he can’t be judged on this effort. Junko made the running but he just lacks a yard of pace these days and whilst I would never want to write of Andre Fabre, I think we now have evidence from several races that Junko is perhaps 7 lbs or so below his peak and he seems unlikely to reach those heights again. Iresine remains in form, he simply isn’t suited by the current conditions. A hot and dry summer is going to make things difficult, but he was the fastest horse in the 10th furlong (11.46s) and once the rain eventually comes, he should be more competitive. Aventure is the other horse to note. She finished 2nd in the Arc last season and all roads surely lead back to Paris Longchamp in October. On ground that was probably quicker than she would like, she ran a fine race and having finished 3-lengths behind a horse who would be favourite for the race if he was allowed to run in it, she did no harm to her claims of going one better in 3-months time.