Tag Archive for: Calandagan

Monday Musings: Crisfords Cash in on DWC Night

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Few UK trainers have been as consistent over recent years as the Crisfords, father Simon and son Ed, writes Tony Stafford. Between 2022 and last year they maintained a strike rate not far off 20%, consecutively earning £1.3million, then £1.7million, and then £1.4 million the last twice. Those four campaigns brought a total of 294 wins from 1,542 runs and just short of £6 million in stakes.

With runners in six of the races on Saturday’s Dubai World Cup meeting on the Meydan racetrack, despite winning only one of them, their combined haul from three placed efforts in the night’s biggest events and a couple of relatively irrelevant minor prizes from the other two, they cleaned up a total of £2,946,000 for their owners – half of their entire total from four years’ exceptional success in Newmarket.

The Crisfords do not mess around unduly with the generally paltry sums available in domestic all-weather racing (next Friday being the great exception to that, of course) in the flat turf close season. Instead, Simon has made excellent use of the many decades of association with Sheikh Mohammed, for whom he was a long-term advisor before taking up training, to build a formidable satellite yard in Dubai every winter.

While horses running for the Crisfords in Godolphin blue are a rarity, the connection is still patently obvious. On Saturday, World Cup Day at Meydan, some were surprised that the meeting went ahead with the backdrop of the Iran war and its effects on several Middle East states, including the United Arab Emirates.

For those closest to the racing industry there, abandonment would have been, for want of a better word, a tragedy. Had the Crisfords been unable to run their six runners on the card, presumably most of them would have been on an Emirates flight back to the UK for the forthcoming turf season.

As I said earlier, all six earned a pot with £11k for eighth going to Cover Up and £7k more for Telemark’s seventh place at least helping towards the expenses for their owners. The tempo quickened, though, when in the 2m Group 2 race, chock-full of UK and Irish talent, their five-year-old mare Fairy Glen made it five wins in 11 career starts, defying odds of 20/1 to do so.

Having performed consistently last year in decent races at around 1m6f, it was a clever intuition by the training duo to drop back to 1m1f for a Group 2 fillies’ and mares’ race at Meydan last month. She came through that relative speed test with a snug win under Mickael Barzalona and the pair teamed up successfully once more on Saturday.

This time it was a 2m Group 2 against males and she got the better of recent Group 1 and Group 3 winners in a hotly contested affair. That win was worth £429k, but their three later runners, none of them winners, made even that sum, as the Americans might say it, “pocket change”.

First came Quddwah, tackling the world’s second-top-rated turf horse from 2025, Ombudsman, in the Dubai Turf over 1m1f. Ombudsman, trained by another Newmarket-based father-and-son team in John and Thady Gosden duly maintained his status with a workmanlike success.

Behind him, the Crisfords’ six-year-old entire horse, Quddwah, sneaked up the inside but Ombudsman, with William Buick revelling in riding in Godolphin blue, came wide and fast to win by a couple of lengths. The prize for the winner was £2,148,000, while Quddwah’s efforts under Christian Demuro earned £740k.

Then it was the turn of the seven-year-old gelding West Wind Blows, the outsider of five opponents for the number one turf horse of 2025, Calandagan, in the Sheema Classic. Despite being totally ignored at 33/1 Rossa Ryan took the Crisford runner to the front from the start, setting a strong pace.

Inevitably, we thought, Rossa must have got the fractions wrong, but his mount stuck on very gamely for all that he could not resist Calandagan, the 1-4 favourite, ridden with restraint by Barzalona. This three-quarter length winner picked up £2,577k with £888,888 going to owner Abdulla Al Mansoori for West Wind Blows. William Knight has had plenty of sport in Dubai in recent years with another of Mr Al Mansoori’s horses, the talented sprinting filly Frost At Dawn.

The Crisfords have not restricted themselves to turf racing at the Dubai Carnival and, in the five-year-old Frankel gelding Meydaan, they presented a serious opponent in the Dubai World Cup to the obvious favourite and top dirt horse in the world, Japan’s Forever Young.

On a night when form in the turf races stood up, the events run on the dirt were much less predictable. Had Forever Young justified odds of 8/11, he would have passed the prizemoney haul of Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior, a horse he beat in Riyadh early last year.

Forever Young fell short though, running a sluggish race, and he never looked like catching front-running Magnitude, trained in the United States by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Jose Ortiz. Meydaan stayed on well to finish third, almost three lengths behind the runner-up, under Buick.

Magnitude goes back to the US with £5,155,000 to his name, with Forever Young hardly making it worth his while at £1,777,777! The second ‘all the eights’ of the night for the Crisford team, almost rounded it out at £3 million.

On a day of plenty for the haves, it was great that a lesser-known name on the international stage should share another Dubai evening in the limelight. North Of England-based jockey Connor Beasley has struck up a nice partnership with local trainer Ahmad Al Harmash. They first teamed up eight winters ago, and their partnership developed over time.

Last year Beasley won two races on the same card, one of them a race for Arabians. Now, owner and rider won successive Group 1 sprint races, the first of them on turf and the second on dirt, completing a 376/1 double (28/1 then 12/1) and collecting more than £1.5 million for the two winning prizes.

In 2022, Beasley’s best season in the UK brought 90 wins for £1.41million in total prizemoney from 737 rides. He eclipsed that tally on Saturday with two career-defining victories - in 35 minutes! He and Rossa Ryan were straight back into action at Doncaster yesterday, initially on big-priced animals in the second race, worth £5,400 to the winner.

While many eyes were focusing on Meydan on Saturday, the start of the turf flat season at Doncaster and a nice card at Kempton helped whet the appetite for the coming domestic season. It’s appropriate that the clocks will have gone forward by the time these notes are in the ether.

Star of the show domestically was Jack Channon, son of Mick, who won both the William Hill Lincoln and the Spring Mile, the latter race for horses that hadn’t made the main event. Urban Lion just dipped in time to win by a nose in a desperate finish to win the Lincoln under Ed Greatrex, denying James Owen’s Rogue Diplomat of what would have been a handicap five-timer.

If the Rogues Gallery group of owners had to feel a little disappointed to have been beaten by such a narrow margin, they might muse that their four-year-old had risen only 14lb since launching his winning sequence at Newmarket last August, the margins being in turn a neck, half a length, three-quarters of a length and finally a nose over 7f at Doncaster last October.

Channon’s other winner, Mazcala, won much more comfortably, sprinting clear for George Bass in the Spring Mile. Colin Keane, on his first day riding in the UK since winning the Cheltenham bumper a couple of weeks ago, was runner-up on the gambled-on joint-favourite Far From Dandy. We’ll be seeing much more of Keane over here from now on, as he’ll be riding for Juddmonte this campaign.

I mentioned Good Friday obliquely earlier on, but it will be my next date on the track, aiming at Chelmsford City where Rogue Diplomat’s trainer James Owen hopes to run another of his money-spinners, Carlton, in the £30k 1m6f handicap. Having lobbed in over hurdles at Huntingdon last time out, my friend Mick Godderidge and his pals will be anticipating win number nine on the course to go with a couple of wins over jumps, all since December 2024. Mick says, “We don’t mind waiting a bit before getting the run going over hurdles!”

Owen amazingly has already won 37 flat races this year at a strike rate of 18 percent. That goes with a five percent better ratio of victories to runs from his 80 winners over jumps this campaign. There’s upwardly mobile and then there’s James Owen!

- TS

Monday Musings: Woof No More

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Lots of us thought he was a dog! As the series of second places built up to four, many people including me were quick to brand the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained four-year-old Calandagan ungenuine – at the very least a gelding that perhaps didn’t try as hard as he should, writes Tony Stafford.

For a while his biggest claim to fame was that as a gelding, he wasn’t qualified to run in his home country’s greatest race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Graffard and regular stable jockey Mickael Barzalona won that this year anyway with the year-younger Daryz, like Calandagan a home-bred from the late Aga Khan’s studs.

Their owner died earlier this year, so missed one of the most glorious chapters of his lifetime as an owner-breeder. Calandagan’s rise to being officially the top racehorse in the world gained a fitting gilding to that accolade when he became the first overseas winner of the Japan Cup for 20 years at Tokyo racecourse yesterday.

The last one was Luca Cumani-trained and Frankie Dettori-ridden Alkaased, whose winning time of 2 minutes 22.1 seconds in 2005 was then the record time for the race. That succumbed only once in the intervening years, to the great Almond Eye, but her figure was trimmed again as Calandagan rallied to wrest victory close to the line from the home-trained favourite Masquerade Ball in the 17-runner affair.

His time for the 12 furlongs was 2 minutes 20.3 seconds, more than three seconds faster than Found recorded in the quickest-ever Arc for the Aidan O’Brien/Coolmore team in 2016. Just think of it, yesterday’s winner averaged fewer than 12 seconds per furlong (11.67 to be precise) over a mile-and-a-half: not much below sprinting pace!

Thus, after that quartet of second places, it is now four Group One victories in a row - and how - for Calandagan, following the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in June; the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July; and the Champion Stakes, easily from Ombudsman, again at Ascot in October. Some hound!

 

https://youtu.be/L5sUW79JlQo?si=hvrngEGBpFCWBQZ0

 

It took a battling performance from the winner, and the exciting thing for international racing is that the son of Gleneagles – whose 2026 fee has remained at €20k for the forthcoming season - will almost certainly remain in training with the expectation of boosting his already lavish earnings figure.

Yesterday’s version carried a first prize of £2.6 million, but under the race conditions, the King George was one of several incentivised qualifying races which brought an invitation to the race and a £2.3 million bonus for any horse that followed by winning the Japan Cup.

No doubt that possibility had been insured and equally the fact that it had been 20 years since an overseas horse had won, the unlikely eventuality had been largely discounted. Even though he was the best horse in the world on ratings Calandagan was only second best in the market at 11/4. He won’t be as big as that for any race that Graffard chooses to point him at any time soon.

For a Coolmore team still having to adjust to losing their number one Galileo replacement, Wootton Bassett, who died in the early autumn while on his off-season stint in Australia, Gleneagles’ son’s exploits are a reminder that Coolmore is far from a one-sire outfit.

They are almost embarrassingly well-stocked with top-class new sires that entered stud this year and several other high-class performers from the 2025 Classic season that have followed them on.

Mickael Barzalona had to overcome his compatriot Christophe-Patrice Lemaire on the favourite and the pair passed the finish two and a half lengths ahead of third-placed Danon Decile. Lemaire has been riding in the biggest races in Japan combined with his domestic duties for many years and has won the Cup four times, starting with Vodka (2009).

He won twice on Almond Eye (2018, in that record time, and 2020) and also partnered the exceptional Japanese champion Equinox two years ago. Ryan Moore and Oisin Murphy are other top riders to have won the race in recent years, but the last French-trained horse to win was Le Glorieux way back in 1987.

Barzalona has come a long way from that day at the Derby when he started celebrating before passing the line to win for Andre Fabre on Pour Moi in the Michael Tabor colours. That was probably just youthful exuberance, and he has proved himself a top-flight international pilot with increasing regularity since, like a slow-maturing French red wine.

A year after Pour Moi, Brian Meehan booked Barzalona to ride Ray Tooth’s Catfish in the Vodafone Dash on Derby Day and the rather headstrong filly probably lost all chance when her saddle slipped as they left the stalls. Far from making her usual fast start, she was always fighting a lost cause it seemed, with her jockey rather precariously perched.

She rallied to such good effect that she was flying home in third, not much more than a length behind the John Best-trained Stone Of Folca. Stone of Folca won the five-furlong sprint in a time of 53.69 seconds, then and still a record for an electronically timed five-furlong race. How close must Catfish have gone to being the world record holder!

Coincidentally, I was with Raymond and his long-time right-hand man Steve Gilbey on Friday celebrating Steve’s landmark 70th birthday. He certainly doesn’t look it! We love going to the Mandarin Kitchen next to Queensway Station and the food as ever was first class. The talk quickly turned to Constitution Hill’s comeback run in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle the following afternoon and, rather ungraciously, I suggested I thought he would fall.

Nicky Henderson has a wonderful record in the race with nine wins starting from 2001 with Landing Light. His second was Ray’s Punjabi in 2008 when the race was switched to Wetherby while Constitution Hill won it as a five-year-old in 2022, by 12 lengths from smart stable-companion Epatante.

That superb mare was again in second when Constitution Hill won the Christmas Hurdle by 17 lengths next time and had future champion State Man seven lengths adrift when winning his single Champion Hurdle in March 2023.

I was at a Cheltenham Preview on a Saturday evening in March in Central London this year, feeling obliged from the floor to suggest that I reckoned Constitution Hill was the best hurdler I’d ever seen, so why are we even discussing it? Lydia Hislop, one of the panel experts on the evening, was far less sure, citing that his jumping had become much less secure.

Of course, Constitution Hill fell when still in contention four from home on the big day and then State Man, poised for a follow-up to his 2024 success, fell at the last when five lengths clear. It was left to the mare Golden Ace, trained in the West Country by Jeremy Scott, to come through and seize the prize.

Rarely can a winner have been received with such scant praise, but Scott persevered, sending her over to Punchestown where she put in another brave show to follow home State Man for a further lucrative payday as Constitution Hill laboured home a remote fifth.

Runner-up when an odds-on shot and undercooked at Kempton on her return in the autumn, Golden Ace turned up once more in the Fighting Fifth with Jeremy going against the market, this time she was a 22/1 shot. Again, she benefited from others’ failings, Constitution Hill coming down as early as the second flight at Newcastle, and then his market rival, Dan Skelton’s The New Lion having to be rousted when narrowly ahead and falling two from home.

From there, it must be a cakewalk we reckoned for Willie Mullins’ hitherto unbeaten Anzadam, but after being brought with a smooth run by Paul Townend, he was a bit untidy at the last. Meanwhile, Golden Ace under Lorcan Williams, kept going in her usual fashion to win by one and a half lengths with the other outsider Nemean Lion getting within a neck of the runner-up at the line.

It’s hard to get rid of pre-conceptions but to say Golden Ace has been lucky in collecting both of her big prizes is to perhaps forget that this was her seventh win (plus three places) in her 11 starts over hurdles. The hurdles are there to jump and for some reason all the signs from Constitution Hill to his trainer that he was a different horse this year meant nowt. He seemingly restricts his errors to the racecourse.

I was surprised when he went to Punchestown last spring after the Champion Hurdle debacle. I would not be shocked if Nicky and owner Michael Buckley decided to finish him off now before that wonderful career is tarnished further. [Rumour is that he might run on the flat - Ed.]

Over at Newbury, it didn’t take long for Dan Skelton to wipe away the disappointment of The New Lion’s defeat in the Fighting Fifth. Two weeks earlier he had seen a long-laid plan come to fruition when his nine-year-old mare Panic Attack ran away with the Paddy Power Gold Cup over two and a half miles at Cheltenham.

Now, going up six furlongs in distance and carrying a 4lb penalty, she was theoretically 3lb well in after being raised 7lb for Cheltenham. With Dan’s brother Harry riding at Newcastle, 3lb claimer Tristan Durrell took over the reins and the mare skipped easily clear to pick up the £142k first prize. Come on Willie, wake up, Dan might soon be out of sight!

Just as keen on the cuisine of the Mandarin Kitchen are Maurice Manasseh and son David, who were both in Ireland yesterday for the comeback run back over hurdles of part-owner David’s Ballyburn, whose season over fences proved such an anti-climax last winter.

He returned for the Mullins team in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle and although he didn’t quite prevent previous dual winner Teahupoo’s getting home for the hat-trick, in another stride he would have done. David can look forward to another Cheltenham Festival win, this time in the three-mile championship! He is only a 2/1 shot, but on the day that might look generous.

- TS

Daryz defeat has left connections with decisions to make

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Connections of Daryz are heading “back to the drawing board” after the previously unbeaten colt failed to fire in the Juddmonte International at York.

Having impressed in winning each of his four starts in France, Francis-Henri Graffard’s three-year-old headed for the Knavesmire in a bid to go one better than his stablemate Calandagan managed 12 months ago when second to City Of Troy.

But after racing keenly in a race that was blown apart by the pacesetting 150-1 shot Birr Castle, the son of Sea The Stars weakened late on and passed the post last of six runners behind the decisive winner Ombudsman.

Nemone Routh, racing manager for the Aga Khan’s French studs, said: “Obviously it was a very strange race and I don’t think that really helped him because he was the least exposed and possibly the most immature horse in the field.

“We were all so happy there was a pacemaker in there and thought it was going to be a truly-run race and then that happened, but take nothing away from the winner – he did win fair and square and that’s a sign of a proper Group One horse when they can adapt to races panning out in different scenarios.

“We came out of it thinking if we’d run Calandagan he’d have been fine as he never pulls and those seasoned Group One horses know how to cope, but Daryz isn’t there yet – he’s still a bit of a baby.

“He took a little bit of a hold as they weren’t actually travelling very fast. He did kind of flatter halfway up the home straight and we thought he was going to run a big race, but then fell in a bit of a heap because I think he’d maybe done a bit too much early on.

“I just think his immaturity caught him out really. We hope he’ll have learned from it and we’ll learn from it too. He’s come out of the race fine as far as I’m aware, it was just a bit frustrating as we didn’t really learn very much.”

Connections of Daryz had been eyeing a possible tilt at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but with opportunities for him to run again between now and Europe’s premier middle-distance contest limited, plans are up in the air.

“He certainly wouldn’t go straight to the Arc off that run, so we’re slightly scratching our heads regarding what to do with him,” Routh added.

“The Prix Niel will come too quickly, I don’t think we can even consider that, but the other option is the Prix du Prince d’Orange (September 14) and we thought we might run Calandagan in that, so we’ve really just got to sit down and figure it all out and decide what we’re going to do.

“We were thinking of that race to prepare Calandagan for the Champion Stakes at Ascot, but we need to figure out whether we want to take a look at the Arc with Daryz or not as if he is going to take a look at the Arc, we need to run him again to prove that’s where he should go.

“We’re slightly back to the drawing board and we’ll make a decision in the next week or so.”

Star-studded cast in the making for British Champions Day

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Many of the best horses in Europe have been entered for Qipco Champions Day at Ascot on October 18.

This year the card has been extended to seven races with the addition of a two-year-old contest, while with the upgrade of the Long Distance Cup to Group One status there will be five top-level events for the first time and a record £4.35million in prize-money.

The feature Qipco Champion Stakes sees recent King George winner Calandagan, Delacroix, Ombudsman, Los Angeles and last year’s winner Anmaat among the 38 entries.

Calandagan was second 12 months ago and his trainer Francis-Henri Graffard has also entered 2024 King George winner Goliath and the unbeaten Daryz.

Calandagan has a good record at Ascot
Calandagan has a good record at Ascot (John Walton/PA)

Karl Burke’s Royal Champion was last seen impressing in the York Stakes, a win which has taken him up to a lofty rating of 120.

“He is now the highest-rated horse I’ve ever trained,” said Burke. “Hopefully he can live up to that, he wouldn’t want the ground too slow but if he remains in good form we’ll head to Ascot for the Champion Stakes.”

One name missing from the Champion Stakes is Field Of Gold, although he is one of the 38 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Queen Anne Stakes winner Docklands, Lockinge victor Lead Artist, Sussex Stakes winner Qirat and Sunday’s Prix Rothschild heroine Fallen Angel are all QEII possibles.

Fallen Angel’s trainer Burke has a trip to Ireland in mind for her next, but Ascot is firmly in his sights.

“Fallen Angel has come out of her latest race in perfect condition. There’s a good chance we head to Champions Day for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes,” he said.

“She’ll have a trip to the Matron (Leopardstown) first, then to Newmarket for the Sun Chariot and then we could take on the big guns if she continues in good form. We’d fancy our chances if the ground came up on the slow side.”

John and Thady Gosden’s Gold Cup hero Trawlerman is one of 29 in the British Champions Long Distance Cup for an increased pot of £500,000. Stablemates Courage Mon Ami, Sweet William and French Master also feature.

Recent Goodwood Cup one-two Scandinavia and Illinois as well as Jan Brueghel are all possibles for Aidan O’Brien who struck last year with Kyprios.

There are 53 in contention for the British Champions Sprint Stakes with Royal Ascot winner Lazzat topping the bill.

Lazzat was a Royal Ascot winner in June
Lazzat was a Royal Ascot winner in June (John Walton/PA)

He could be joined by fellow French-trained entries such as Beauvatier, Daylight, Topgear and Woodshauna.

Dockland’s trainer Harry Eustace has entered Commonwealth Cup winner Time For Sandals after her good effort over five furlongs at Goodwood last week.

“Time For Sandals won over six at Ascot, so it makes sense to give her an entry,” he said.

“How she runs next time out will determine if she goes, she’s had quite a long season, because we prepped her up like she might be a Guineas filly, so she’s not a definite just yet.

“However, if she wins her next start, it will be really hard not to go there. Having one horse going there is a proud moment, but having two would be extremely exciting.”

Calandagan not certain to take Juddmonte International chance

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King George hero Calandagan appears far from certain to line up in the Juddmonte International at York next month, with trainer Francis-Henri Graffard suggesting he could keep his powder dry for major targets on foreign soil later in the year.

Fresh from securing a belated first Group One victory in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, the four-year-old comprehensively turned the tables on his Coronation Cup conqueror Jan Brueghel to provide his trainer with back-to-back wins in Saturday’s Ascot feature following Goliath’s triumph 12 months ago.

Calandagan found only City Of Troy too strong in the Juddmonte International last summer – but while Graffard is not ruling out a return to the Knavesmire, he feels his stable star will need a break at some stage if he is to head abroad in the latter part of 2025.

“He came back yesterday (Sunday) lunchtime and ate everything. He lost 13 kilos, which is normal, and he was at the track this morning and seems fine,” the trainer told Sky Sports Racing.

“It (Juddmonte International) is in the back of my head and he is entered. I think that would be great for the sport if he can go there, (but) he showed that a mile and a half on good ground is what he really likes and where he’s very efficient.

“I have to discuss it with the Princess (Zahra, who leads the management team of the Aga Khan Studs) and I haven’t been in touch with her since (Saturday). He has big targets in Japan, Hong Kong, the Breeders’ Cup and Dubai, so I can’t keep him going non-stop and will probably have to stop at one stage.

“I have to discuss it with the Princess, but at the moment I am probably going to go for a break with him.”

Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard at Ascot
Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard at Ascot (John Walton/PA)

Graffard has a second Aga Khan-owned Juddmonte International entry in the form of Daryz, who was last seen stretching his unbeaten record to four in the Group Two Prix Eugene Adam.

When asked whether he was a possible contender for the York feature, Graffard added: “He is, again that would be a discussion I need to have with the Princess.

“He’s a very nice prospect, Daryz, I really like the horse, but is he ready to go into a race like the Juddmonte International against these very strong horses? It’s a big question mark.

“If he doesn’t go to York, he can go the classic French way of the Prix Niel and the Arc.”

Graffard also confirmed the Prix de la Foret as a likely target for French Guineas heroine and Coronation Stakes runner-up Zarigana, while Prix Jean Prat victor Woodshauna is being aimed at the Prix Maurice de Gheest ahead of a possible trip to Haydock for the Sprint Cup in September.

Monday Musings: Wokism

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There was a race at Thirsk on Friday which has given me at least a double pause for thought, although the first of them was barely a pause, just a momentary operational stalls malfunction which brought a ridiculous decision from the course stewards, writes Tony Stafford. Indeed the worst in the history of racing in this and probably any other country.

The 4.35 race was a handicap over 1m4f. Post-race, the stewards stuck their heads together and were satisfied that the berth occupied by the grey, Red Force One, had opened after the others, and declared the horse a non-runner. Presumably they came to that conclusion at least in part as he would not have qualified for any prize money, which he didn’t, finishing tailed off.

I had reason to look at the race a couple of times, still having no clue that anything had been amiss. As the stalls opened, you could see the grey horse was a stride or so behind the others at the outset, ambled along for the first 20 strides easily into the leading group and after a furlong was right in the hunt.

Flat racers probably go around 30 strides to a furlong, so somewhere near 360 strides in a mile and a half race. Thus, if he was inconvenienced at all by the blink of an eye slower exit, it represented one of the 360 strides of the race – 0.28% of the full distance. No wonder he was a non-runner!

Would the stewards still have declared him thus if he had won the £5k plus first prize or even been placed? Wokism, or rather Jokism. Racing is going to the dogs if we have people like these administering the Rules in this way.

The race itself threw up a winner for my great friend Wilf Storey, 85 I believe and still going strong, or rather, strongish, given that the stable strength at Grange Farm stables, Muggleswick is down to a handful. But the team with granddaughter Siobhan Doolan also to the fore, had five wins last year and now two this season, both with the ex-Charlie Fellowes filly Idyllic, from just 13 runs.

I went to see the then three-year-old after Siobhan had successfully bid 9,000gns for her at Newmarket’s HIT sale last backend. Once a winner for Fellowes from ten runs after her 62k yearling purchase, she is by Bated Breath, who stands at £8,000 at Juddmonte, so was hardly excessively priced when Siobhan pounced.

But here comes my bone of contention. She was ridden with rare judgment, strength and skill by the 3lb claiming Paula Muir, who after Friday has ten more wins to go before she loses her claim. If you seem to think Scots lass Paula has been around for a while still to be claiming, you would be right.

In the two years 2018 and 2019 she rode first 22 winners from 216 rides and then 15 from 257. So far this year, she has had the grand total of 13 rides. That’s right, 13, coincidentally the same number as Wilf has sent out with the same horse providing both successes. And ten of those have been for Wilf, who also contributed five of last year’s seven victories, although she did have a more credible 82 rides in 2024.

Chatting to Wilf after the win, he said, “I can’t understand it. Here’s a girl who had had more than 1,000 career rides and now 85 wins. She does a light weight, and she’s really strong and can claim 3lb, yet she can’t get a ride.”

Wilf told me she rides out for Kevin Ryan. “I understand it’s usually on the difficult ones, or those two-year-olds coming up for a first run. She gets a fair bit of knocking about and told me she might pack it all in at the end of the season.”

Investigating this apparent statistical oddity I found that, apart from the ten rides for Storey, she has had one each for another Durham handler in David Thompson - a horse that won its previous race but was 4th of eight when she rode it and did not keep the mount next time, Barry Murtagh and Ryan. Murtagh put her on a 150/1 chance which ran entirely to expectations finishing last of 15 while Kevin Ryan entrusted her with a 50/1 debutant that again didn’t confound the betting market in last of eight.

Before Saturday, Ryan had sent out 40 winners this year from 308 runners, with 33 individual winners from the 94 horses he had raced. You might have thought he could have found her a ride or two more with chances of doing something. A win for his powerful stable would undoubtedly give Paula’s career that little bit of help she needs to help push her back into the limelight.

Every horse she rides gets a proper go as you will see if you watch the video of Friday’s win. Having got Idyllic back on terms with the favourite Ancient Myth, ridden by Mark Winn (ten wins from 138 rides this year) for David O’Meara, that had swept past her at the furlong pole, she pushed her mount back on terms and, confidently with hands and heels, took control for a comfortable neck win.

As I said, watch the race and tell me why she shouldn’t be riding every day of the week rather than the twice a month of 2025. It was planned for her to renew her acquaintance with last year’s dual winner Edgewater Drive at Ayr today, but the ground has dried up too much for him.

Back to Idyllic. Having raced at 1m3f in her previous three races, Idyllic was now up another furlong at Thirsk. Somehow the Wilf Storey horses, especially the females, over the many years of his career and our friendship, always seemed to become more stamina oriented as they developed. It will not shock me to see Idyllic winning over even two miles later in the year.

**

Admittedly, the five-runner field that divvied up the best part of £1.5 million for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, did comprise a field of Group 1 horses. But it left a sour taste that 2023 St Leger winner Continuous – tailed off after playing a significant role in the majority of the race - could cop forty grand for last place as the Aidan O’Brien second-string. It was £110k for a below-par Jan Brueghel, Coolmore’s number one, in fourth. It would be understandable if most racegoers found that to be money hardly well spent.

Ascot’s Nick Smith did his best to justify this 20% rise from last year’s figure which meant that Francis-Henri Graffard, who won both races, last year with 25/1 shot Goliath and now with 11/10 favourite Calandagan, is well over £1.5 million in stable earnings from the two victories.

The obvious rejoinder to Smith’s case was the standing still in money of many other races around Ascot from top to bottom level. This race is the jewel in the course’s crown, but it is no coincidence, that neither winner will ever be on show in their own country’s biggest event, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October, from which geldings are excluded.

One who will presumably have booked her place having finished runner-up only a length behind the winner is the Andrew Balding-trained filly, four-year-old Kalpana, who looked sure to win when Oisin Murphy sent her past the one-paced Jan Brueghel. He, with Continuous, did not help Rebels Romance’s cause as the second string raced on leader Jan Brueghel’s girth until the action heated up in the straight.

Ascot is legion for trouble in running up its short straight even in small fields. That seems absurd given the wide expanse of the track – two handicaps on Saturday were scheduled to field 22-runner races and there were little noticeable hard-luck stories in them. At the Royal meeting, some handicaps accommodate 32 runners. The Godolphin horse was the one that was hamstrung as Kalpana sneaked through between horses and Calandagan came widest of all after lobbing along in last place for the first ten furlongs of the race.

Calandagan clearly found Ascot an easier track to handle than Epsom where Jan Brueghel beat him narrowly in the Coronation Cup. If he didn’t already have it with a series of previous near-misses at the top level, it was cemented that day at Epsom in which he earned the reputation among many (including me) of being a little wimpish.

There was no sign of a wimp from him now though, as he followed up an easy Group 1 score in France last time by reeling in Kalpana, unlike those Thirsk stewards the day before. The BHA should announce an investigation and with seemingly no possible argument to the contrary, turf out the culprits!

- TS

Graffard ‘never had any doubts’, as Calandagan shows his true colours

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If there was any doubt about Calandagan’s resolution in a battle, then his King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes tussle with Kalpana firmly answered the question.

Narrowly beaten in four top-level contests since scoring at Royal Ascot last summer, some had looked at the four-year-old’s thirst for victory as a reason why the talented son of Gleneagles was yet to strike at the highest level.

Francis-Henri Graffard never had any doubts and although relief may have been the overriding emotion when Calandagan opened his Group One account in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last month, this was a moment of sweet vindication for the Aga Khan team who have stood steadfast behind their star middle-distance performer.

“I never had any doubts about his willingness to win and every time he has been beaten he has had excuses,” said Graffard.

“He was really far back in the Juddmonte International and he quickened really strongly, just too late, and in Dubai he again finished strongly when beaten by a very good horse. At Epsom, I had plenty of excuses, but I could never say it was because he didn’t want to try.

“Mickael (Barzalona) knows him better now and he loves good ground and the mile-and-a-half distance. I think there can’t be any more doubt about his willingness to win.”

Having caused a 25-1 shock with Goliath 12 months ago, Graffard this time had the 11-10 favourite on his side and a horse who could quite rightfully class Ascot as his second home.

A regular at British passport control, he once again displayed his liking for crossing the Channel, this time around taking home £850,650 after Barzalona delivered his mount with precision to deny Andrew Balding’s top-class filly.

Graffard added: “I thought the filly might have got away and when she quickened I thought ‘oh my god, I’m going to be beaten a neck again’.

“But Mickael said he was waiting and he really helped him to balance. He said the last 200 metres are long here and he knew he was going to catch her.

“The way he can quicken is very impressive, he’s a very good horse and now we know whatever tactics the opposition have we can be competitive in these top races.”

For Graffard, a second win in one of the season’s key contests cements his position as one of the leading trainers in the world.

Having shown himself to be a powerhouse on home soil, he is now proving it on the global stage, again displaying his willingness to venture into enemy territory and make a daring raid on the spoils.

“I love the sport and competition and when you have a top horse in good form, I think it is important to challenge yourself against the best possible opposition,” said Graffard.

“That is how you can really level-up the quality of your horses and English racing is so strong. I came to Royal Ascot with a really strong team of horses and left disappointed, so it is not easy. When you win, it makes it even more joyful.

“The season has been very strong for me so far, we’re just starting the second half now and I’ve just had a week off to recharge and the stats have been very strong for the stable, so we need to keep bringing the winners and we are working very hard.”

By emulating the achievement of countryman Maurice Zilber – trainer of 1973 and 1974 winner Dahlia – he has now done what many of his contemporaries, including even the great Andre Fabre, have so far failed to achieve.

Dahlia and Zilber were of course thwarted in ‘the race of the century’ when seeking a King George hat-trick 50 years ago.

But on the day next year’s Ascot feature was boosted to a swelling £2million prize-pot, the lure of one of the sport’s greatest races is sure to prove a tempting proposition once again.

“Hopefully. It’s an amazing race and I’m not sure why it is not on the agenda for more horses and stables,” said Graffard when asked about seeking a third win in the race.

“It’s a fantastic race and of course you don’t just come for the prize-money. If my horses are in good form I would definitely come back again.”

Calandagan rules supreme for France in King George

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French raider Calandagan powered to a brilliant victory in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

Francis-Henri Graffard’s gelding was bidding to keep the trophy in the Chantilly yard after Goliath prevailed 12 months ago, with his key rival seemingly Aidan O’Brien’s Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel, who had edged the Aga Khan Studs-owned four-year-old at Epsom.

Calandagan was the well-backed 11-10 favourite to turn the tables and after an incredibly patient ride from Mickael Barzalona he swept through to pick off all of his rivals and pass the gallant Kalpana ahead of the line for a one-length triumph.

It is the fifth time the race has been won by a horse carrying the green and red silks, with Shergar the most famous of the those winners after prevailing for the fourth Aga Khan, who died in February this year at the age of 88.

“I am so pleased for the horse, it was a competitive race,” said Graffard.

“The tactics during the race were not what I was expecting, when I saw Continuous going very steadily it was all different.

“When the filly (Kalpana) kicked on for home my horse was still travelling well, I was hoping he was going to catch her at the end. He lengthened so strongly, he’s a very good horse.

“I wanted to see my horse getting into his rhythm and lengthening his stride, when I really saw him coming I started to shout.

“He won nicely again today, he’s a good horse, that’s two in row now in Group Ones.

“Mickael knows him very well and he has a lot confidence in the horse. You saw the ride he gave him, he had a lot of confidence and he won – we are so happy.”

Winning connections following the King George
Winning connections following the King George (John Walton/PA)

Future plans could include another trip to York for the Juddmonte International, in which he was second to City Of Troy last year.

Graffard said: “We’ll see how he comes out of the race, but he’s in the Juddmonte International and why not, I wouldn’t mind going back there. I would have no problem bringing him back to 10 furlongs, but I will discuss it with the owner.

“A mile and a half is also the perfect distance for him, but he ran really strongly in the race at York last year and if he comes back really well, why avoid the race?

“We could maybe go for the Japan Cup at the end of the season, but he will have a big target somewhere.”

Mickael Barzalona celebrates
Mickael Barzalona celebrates (John Walton/PA)

Jubilant rider Barzalona added: “This means a lot and it has come at the right time for me.

“It’s took a bit of time to win his Group One, but now he has won two in a row and to win a King George means a lot.

“He’s a lovely horse to ride and he has an engine and a beautiful action. Once he finds his rhythm he is never going to let you down and as a jockey you just need to put him in the right spot and let him do the rest.

“I was very confident I would get to Kalpana and this is a great result.”

Calandagan finally breaks Group One duck

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Calandagan claimed the elusive Group One success his connections craved with a decisive victory in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Second four times at the highest level since striking at Royal Ascot last summer, Francis-Henri Graffard’s four-year-old has locked horns with some of the best around, performing admirably up against the likes of City Of Troy and most recently Jan Brueghel at Epsom.

However, returned to home soil he proved a cut above the opposition in what appeared a stacked contest on paper, storming three and a half lengths clear of Christophe Ferland’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Aventure.

Calandagan is now 3-1 joint-favourite with his Epsom conqueror Jan Brueghel with Coral for a King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes rematch at Ascot on July 26.

Graffard said: “Well, he’s not ungenuine. The race went really well for him and I thought he was travelling much more into the rhythm of the race this time.

Mickael (Barzalona, jockey) said he still had to ask him to keep up sometimes during the race but then in the straight, when there is rhythm and he can follow the pace, he can really lengthen and quicken really strongly. I thought he was really impressive.

“After Epsom my first conclusion was that he needed the run probably against that horse on that ground that day. I thought he came on a lot for that and I think he’s gaining experience with his jockey knowing him better also.

“He’s never run a bad race and he’s either been beaten by a champion or circumstances. Today everything went his way and we saw how good he could be.

“I will obviously discuss the King George with connections, but he is entitled to go to Ascot, it is a place he has won before and I would like to take him there 100 per cent.”

Calandagan’s victory capped a fine afternoon for Graffard and the Aga Khan Studs team as they earlier watched Daryz remain unbeaten with an impressive display in the Prix Eugene Adam.

George Scott’s Bay City Roller can count himself unfortunate to bump into the exciting son of Sea The Stars, who after being shortened to just 14-1  for the Arc, could take a trip to York for the Juddmonte International Stakes later in the summer.

“We’ll take it step by step with Calandagan and the next race (at Ascot) is a big one. But if you want to talk about the Juddmonte International then that is a race I will put forwards for Daryz,” Graffard added to Sky Sports Racing.

“I will discuss with Princess Zahra where she would like to go, but I will probably make an entry for Daryz at York and he is a horse I like a lot. I need to make him tougher and give him experience and I think he will get that if he goes abroad.”

Calandagan back in search of elusive Group One gold

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Connections of Calandagan are confident the ground will be in his favour for the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

The Aga Khan Studs-owned gelding excelled last season when winning a pair of Group Threes at ParisLongchamp before a hugely impressive six-length triumph in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

But his step up to Group One level has so far seen a series of near-misses, with second-place finishes in the Juddmonte International, Champion Stakes, Dubai Sheema Classic and Coronation Cup.

Nemone Routh, manager for the Aga Khan Studs in France, said: “He worked on Tuesday morning and worked well. He took his run at Epsom very well and he’s going to run in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a very hot race this year, but he’s in great form and I think he’ll get his ground.”

Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard is also set to be represented by last year’s King George winner Goliath, who returned to winning ways in the Group Three La Coupe at ParisLongchamp last time out.

The six-strong possibles list is completed by Joseph O’Brien’s Al Riffa, Andre Fabre’s Junko, the Christophe Ferland-trained Aventure and Iresine, representing the stable of Jean-Pierre Gauvin.

Monday Musings: Aidan’s Hat-Trick Heroics

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So Aidan and the boys won the Betfred-sponsored Coronation Cup, Oaks and Derby last weekend, picking up around £1.5 million in the process, writes Tony Stafford. Lambourn, the well-backed third favourite on Derby Day, far out-performed his much more talked-about stable companions The Lion In Winter and short-priced favourite Delacroix in almost a repetition of Serpentine’s all-the-way easy victory under Emmet McNamara at the height of Covid five years ago.

Ryan Moore had selected Delacroix from the gang of trials winners rather than Chester Vase hero Lambourn and, in retrospect, it was maybe a little strange as Aidan always sends his best candidates to Chester, its timing best suiting Epsom.

People may question the suitability of a one-mile always-turning circuit as a recipe for revealing Epsom Classic talent, but I know Henry Cecil always reckoned that a big horse would be fine around the Roodeye if he was well-balanced. Lambourn certainly is.

He was picked up almost by default by Wayne Lordan, the apparent third string – Colin Keane, the regular Irish champion was on Dante flop The Lion In Winter. But the stamina Lambourn showed in winning the Chester Vase (just beyond 1m4f) last month convinced Wayne to go hard in the first furlong out of the stalls – to wake his mount up as much as anything – as he knew, unlike many in the field, his mount would not fail through lack of staying power.

Auguste Rodin (2023) and City Of Troy last year were fully expected winners but two other runnings in the last decade have gone to perceived third or higher strings. Wings Of Eagle, the fifth choice in terms of expectations in 2017 was a 40/1 shot when Padraig Beggy guided him home.

Beggy has been rarely seen since on the racecourse, but he did return to Epsom two years later to partner outsider Sovereign as a pacemaker in the Derby and finished tenth. He then rode him as a 25/1 outsider in the Irish Derby and won it!

McNamara might not have seen much riding action after Serpentine’s triumph, but it’s hardly surprising as he had been combining his riding with studying at Griffith College, Dublin. He graduated from there in 2018 with first-class honours in accountancy and finance in 2018 and works in that capacity in the Coolmore operation. Talk about top-class staff!

Moved across to Ballydoyle when David Wachman, John Magnier’s son-in-law, stopped training to take a behind the scenes role in the Coolmore machine, Lordan was third string to Ryan Moore and Seamie Heffernan until that veteran left the team a couple of years or so ago.

Lordan, one of those outdated characters, a true lightweight, had a serious injury during the 2023 Irish Derby which took eight months to overcome. As he said after Saturday’s triumph, he has a wonderful job. It was only a neck that denied him the Oaks-Derby double when Moore’s mount Minnie Hauk just edged out he and Whirl after another flawless front-running ride around Epsom’s tricky 1m4f course the previous afternoon, showing what jewels are available to the Coolmore number two on which to demonstrate his skills.

The modest Mr Lordan affirmed that he will have been in for work at 7 a.m. as usual yesterday and after no drunken celebratory stupor. Like the trainer he’s a teetotaller.

Aidan O’Brien has now won the Derby and Oaks eleven times each and, for good measure, ten Coronation Cups after Friday’s determined triumph for Jan Brueghel over the odds-on French four-year-old Calandagan. The Francis-Henri Graffard-trained horse was adding to his string of half-hearted second places (now four in a row) behind a typically tough O’Brien stayer.

In all, it’s 47 UK Classics from the 139 that have been contested since his first winning attempt in the 1,000 Guineas in 1998. That’s around 33 per cent. At least everyone else has been able to share the remaining two-thirds although, as time goes on, the dominance if anything is strengthening.

Aidan’s 22 Epsom Classics have all come this century, thus 22 of the 52 to have been run, or 42%! When Michael Tabor and Mrs Sue Magnier add their joint win with the Andre Fabre-trained Pour Moi, they are on 12.

To add to the winner, Coolmore’s partners also own Tennessee Stud, who finished fast from off the pace for the Joseph O’Brien stable. This son of Wootton Bassett was bred by Joseph’s mother Anne-Marie. Wootton Bassett has been the runaway star of the Coolmore firmament of late and his fee for this year was raised to an almost unthinkable €300k.

But even at that lofty price, in this Derby line-up he wasn’t the most expensive of the 14 sires (New Bay, Ghaiyyath, Sea The Stars and Frankel were doubly represented). Juddmonte’s Frankel’s fee is £350k. Dubawi, with one runner yesterday, has the same fee for his services at Darley Stud.

Every November the stud fees for Coolmore’s stallions are made public. I was shocked in 2023 that Australia, the 2014 Derby and Irish Derby winner and a son of another outstanding Epsom hero in the peerless Galileo, had his fee for 2024 reduced to €17,500. If potential clients needed any further encouragement, his dam is the Oaks winner Ouija Board.

I mentioned it to one of Coolmore’s stallion sales team at the time, who said it reflected his lack of popularity, probably because his progeny often needed time. He added that the only people that seemed to have confidence in him still were Aidan and Anne-Marie who sent a good number of mares to him.

Checking on my facts, I was further stunned that the 2025 fee was down to ten grand (Euro, about £8,400). Aidan and Anne-Marie sure know their stuff. It’s not too late for Australia to start going back towards the €50k at which he began his stallion career. Note, for example, that he is still at Coolmore while others have been sent elsewhere due to the hard-nosed realism that characterises the stud’s management. Of the 20 published stallion figures for flat race rather than jumps sires, only one was listed at a lower figure.

Watching from home due to entirely foreseen but inescapable circumstances, I was momentarily fooled into thinking that Lester Piggott had come back to ride in the Derby in the second running after his death. As the horses walked around, I noticed just how similar Rossa Ryan carries himself on a horse. When you get the chance, have a look. No doubt he’ll win the race one day, but the Dante Stakes winner Pride Of Arras never looked in with a chance.

One fact that certainly didn’t fool me was the dispiriting sight of the sparsely populated Hill. Every first Saturday in May, in Louisville, Kentucky, upwards of 100,000 squeeze in, a tradition in US racing that goes back to the days of the famed War Admiral/Seabiscuit match race at Pimlico in November 1938, where upstart Seabiscuit met his regally bred Kentucky Derby-winning rival and humbled him.

When I used to go to Epsom with my dad in the 1960s, there were more people there during the three-day (now one) Spring meeting in April than deigned to turn up on Saturday.

All the years I used to go there when with the Daily Telegraph, I arrived for breakfast in the old lads’ canteen, waiting for a glimpse of a few of the contenders having a leg shake in the morning, and the crowd was already building up. Many scores of buses lined the straight and the Hill was packed. On Saturday there was a sprinkling of people and even Ollie Bell and former England hockey goalie Sam Quek couldn’t disguise the fact that there was enough room for kids to play impromptu football matches.

Apparently, the Jockey Club, who run Epsom, is considering how to deal with the problem. The remedy is simple. Charge a tenner for cars and allow free admission. Then people will begin to flock back, find it an enjoyable experience and one that will develop as the years go on. I’ve never been so embarrassed. Derby Day once was a great British tradition. For most of our much-changed society, it’s an irrelevance. Thank goodness ITV think it’s worth making the effort.

Many say switching from Wednesday was a big mistake but, since Covid, it seems so few people these days have physically to GO to work, that simplification is a red herring.

It’s not as if there’s loads of competition from other sports at this time of year. On Saturday, England played a World Cup qualifying match against Andorra. Who? Our brave boys, rated number four in the world, hammered the opposition (rated 173 – I didn’t know there were that many countries) by a single goal to nil. Some of them are on £300k a week. Worth every penny I’d say.

- TS

Monday Musings: UK Prizemoney has a mountain to climb

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Eighty-six horses, many of whose connections feared that heavy ground at Ascot would render their task hopeless, gathered on Saturday aiming to take a slice of the – for the UK anyway – lavish prizemoney on offer, writes Tony Stafford. It was British Champions Day, for four Group 1 races, a Group 2 and a one-mile handicap making up what from the stands seemed a motley six-race card and, in the end, the ground wasn’t too bad looking at the race times.

The UK administrators have clearly been beaten to the punch though by the Irish, and by their two-day feast at Leopardstown and the Curragh in September. Obviously, the French could never be budged from their also two-day sacrosanct Arc extravaganza over the first weekend of October.

So here we were again, switched from the outside flat track to the inner hurdles circuit. As I approached in the late morning, the sun finally having broken through, I passed the one-mile round start. The grass looked lush and verdant green, almost waiting for a herd of cows to come along and start munching.

Apart from Kyprios in the opener, there was no other established superstar on show although Roger Varian’s Charyn deserves to be elevated to the elite level after snaffling the day’s second biggest prize, the one-mile Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, with authority.

Saturday’s top pot, money-wise, the Champion Stakes, had been expected to be a match between the smart French-trained Calandagan and William Haggas’s improving Irish Champion Stakes winner, Economics. But in a rough race, Economics had a dreadful passage (and also reportedly bled), and it looked as though his fellow three-year-old Calandagan was home and dry, having squeezed through a gap at the rail.

But Jim Crowley on the lightly raced six-year-old Anmaat, at 40/1, also managed to thread a passage through in the dying strides to deny the younger horse and give trainer Owen Burrows a massive boost. Most of the crowd were scratching their heads, apart from my mate Steve Howard who fluked a tenner each-way and paid (with help of two of his friends) for a superb Chinese meal for nine of us on the proceeds.

To my mind, the Champion Stakes has never been the same, not benefiting at all from the switch in 2011 from Newmarket and its far less weather-susceptible surface, even conceding Frankel on his career finale the following year.

Saturday’s racing was eventful, Kyprios making it seven from seven on the season with one of his most commanding performances when collecting the G2 Long Distance Cup by an untroubled couple of lengths. What do the boys do now, we thought? Keep on collecting the same half dozen races as in 2022 and this year – 2023 was an injury-marred aberration – or retire him to stud? Not a bit of it, Aidan O’Brien said after the race, he’ll be having the winter off, coming back in the spring for the customary Navan then Leopardstown path to, hopefully, a third Gold Cup – and the rest.

The Stayers are given short shrift by the powers that be, the winner’s cheque £255,000 good enough for a non-elite race but below the other treasures on offer. £283k was the main prize for the sprinters and fillies and mares, while more than double that goes to the milers and ten-furlong stars. Takeaways for the two top prizes were respectively £737k for Anmaat and £655 grand for Charyn. Second home in the Champion Stakes was worth £279k for Calandagan while another French horse, Facteur Cheval, received £248k for his second to Charyn, both uncomfortably close to Kyprios’s take-home pay.

Calandagan had already earned eleven grand more than Saturday on his previous trip to the UK, following home City of Troy in the £703k to the winner Juddmonte International at York.  When Ambiente Friendly ran on into second behind City Of Troy in the Derby two and a half months previously, he collected £334k for the Gredley family and James Fanshawe against the winner’s prize of £882,000, best in the entire UK programme.

Thus, the top reward for a runner-up spot in UK racing in 2024 has been Ambiente Friendly’s £334,000. So what? you may ask. So what, indeed. On the other side of the world, at Randwick racecourse in Sydney, Australia earlier the same day, a horse called I Wish I Win collected £337,331 for finishing last of 11! That’s 43 thousand more than Ambiente Friendly’s best second prize of the entire UK race programme and, as near as damn it, £100k more than Calandagan picked up in the Champion Stakes later that day.

The six-year-old was competing in the Everest Stakes over six furlongs. If he had finished seventh, the money would have been just the same for this six-year-old who had previously won six of his 18 races. His total earnings to date have been a touch short of £7 million.

The year-older mare Bella Nipotina won the race, and her earnings leapfrogged Saturday’s tail-ender by dint of the £3.74 million to the winner – up to £8.78 million. She has won seven of 52 career starts and is trained by Ciaron Maher. Kyprios, with 15 wins from 19 starts and only a year younger than Bella Nicolina, has earnings of £2,635,000.

Until recently, Maher shared the training billing with Englishman David Eustace, son of James and brother to Harry, who has quickly built up a strong stable in their hometown of Newmarket. David has now moved to Hong Kong, another place where the prizemoney levels must burn into the hearts of those David has left behind in his native land.

Not content with knocking off the big one, Maher also collected more than a million for third and, for good measure, added another £1.5 million for the victory of Duke De Sessa in the Caulfield Cup. Caulfield, near Geelong in Victoria, is a mere 886 kilometres south, and a nine-hour drive, from Randwick. The race is usually a stepping stone to the Melbourne Cup, run at Flemington on Tuesday, November 5.

A nice touch on the last race of the Randwick card was the £1.58 million-to-the-winner King Charles III Stakes as the King and Queen embark on their tour of Australia. Maher was second here, threequarters of a length behind winner Ceolwulf, with the favourite Pride Of Jenni.

Reverting to the Everest, and its 20 million Australian dollar (just over £10 million) total prize fund, it threw up some other amazing facts. The 11 competitors after the race had each won more than £1 million in their careers to date, several of them from only a handful of runs, especially a trio of three-year-olds. Among these was a Justify colt owned by Coolmore called Storm Boy, who finished eighth behind the winner yet beaten only two lengths.

The total career earnings for the eleven, stands at a notch over £40 million from a total of 180 runs, which I make more than £22,000 per run. When Duke De Sessa was trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld, he won around €100k for two Group 3 wins and one Listed victory.

The clue? The title name Everest is preceded by the letters TAB, the off-course near monopoly system which fuels the astonishing power of the prize money in that country. No wonder owners here beseech their horses to win nice races as three-year-olds and await the calls of the top trainers, of which Maher is no exception.

We’ve been saying it for half a century. Maybe the Prime Minister’s wife, who likes racing, might get her hubby and his party to rush through a bill to effect an off-course pool monopoly here. Actually, no rush, you have five years to do it!  We’d still have one or two bookmakers on the course for colour, although when it happens, don’t try to get a hefty bet on when you go racing, having paid all the excessive costs – for everything!

*

Last week at Newmarket, Book 2 of Tattersalls sales in Newmarket was also operating at more than 100,000 guineas per horse over the first two days – of course nothing like the drama of Book 1. Maybe if the buyers had been sending their precious acquisitions of the previous week straight to Australia you could start to understand how it could happen.  It won’t be the case; the Aussies are mostly too canny for that and wait to see what they can do on the track before biting.

At the other end of the scale, Book 4, starting late on Friday when most people had gone home, originally catalogued 81 yearlings. Of those, 20, probably wisely, didn’t show and of the remainder that did, 28 didn’t make their reserve prices.

In the event, 33 were sold through the ring, although others, probably out of desperation by their vendors will have found new owners later. The total official aggregate of the 33 that did change hands was £111k, for an average of just over three grand and a median of two thousand, both figures around one per cent of the Book 1 figures.

Ten found new buyers at the minimum bid of 1,000 guineas including a strong-looking Rumble Inthejungle colt bought by Henry Candy. Henry, one of the most-admired veterans of his profession, has been saying that he has no wish to retire, and that he has worked hard all his life and intends to continue to do so. I’d love that colt to win a race or two for him.

As for the hapless vendors who have nurtured their young stock with the same care as the posh studs who made all the big money, you must be totally sympathetic. To be in Book 4 is like a leper’s curse. Surely Tattersalls can either include them in a slightly enlarged Book 3 where they could have a chance as buyers are still around, or be more stringent on which horses they accept for the sale.

- TS