High summer at Ascot, High Noon for British racing with the 75th running of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Did Calandagan’s last furlong cut down of the talented filly Kalpana match the expected standards of this mid-season highlight. Only to a point in a race confused by some seemingly backfiring tactics around main rival Jan Brueghel.
Calandagan has become a splendid racing machine. Gelded after a single badly behaved run as a two year old, he won four of his seven races last year and ran City Of Troy to a length in the Juddmonte International. He came to Ascot fresh from a brilliant display in the Grand Prix de St Cloud after being outpointed by Jan Brueghel in the Coronation Cup at Epsom.
Which brings us to the mystery. Jan Brueghel won last year’s St Leger over a mile and three quarters. Over Epsom’s mile and a half the previous year’s St Leger winner was employed as a pacemaker to set a gallop to sap Calandagan’s finishing kick. Continuous was used again yesterday. As he leapt out of the stalls we imagined a repeat.
But no, little Wayne Lordan locked down hard to allow Ryan Moore to come up to lead on the inside. While the other three tucked in behind with Calandagan last of the file, Jan Brueghel then galloped very steadily along in front with Lordan bouncing like a pea on the very sweaty drum that was the blinkered Continous pulling as if he had not received the email.
Up in the stands we shook our heads in bemusement. What on earth was the point of setting a slow pace when you know that your main rival has a superior finishing kick? The only viable answer might be a wish to keep Jan Brueghel straight round the right handed bend as the horse had hung badly left on his first run this season. Whatever the truth of that this plan, it was soon doomed to be unsuccessful. Ryan Moore stoking away in front while the faster finishers queued up behind. The only question was which one would take him.
It was Kalpana who struck first. A brilliant sweeping run up the outside to lead 400 metres out while old warrior Rebel’s Romance found traffic along the inner and Michel Barzolana tried to get Calandagan to hit full stride widest of all. 200 metres from the line it still looked as if this elegant race machine would have the legs of her rather plainer rivel. But handsome is as handsome does and Calandagan stretched out beautifully to nail her so decisively that he had a length at the line with Rebel’s Romance finally getting out of trouble and being two and a half lengths away in third a neck ahead of Jan Brueghel with a no doubt baffled Continuous trailing in a distant fifth and last.
The winning finish was spectacular, Calandagan another tribute to the Aga Khan team taking this for the fifth time and especially to trainer Francis Graffard who saddled Goliath, another gelding to win last year and is clearly a young master of his craft.
But while every contender had won at the highest level, we still had just five runners, one a supposed pacemaker and there was not a single three year old in the field.
All this despite one and a half million in prize money and £38,000 guaranteed to the 5th. Determined to restore the race to somewhere close to its former status Ascot are now boldly upping the ante and making next year’s KGVI & QE II the first £2million race run on British turf. One can only hope that this enterprise is rewarded by live runners from the classic generation.
The best renewals have all featured three-year old input and the greatest of all runnings was the 1975 duel between the three year old Grundy and the four-year-old Bustino, the first I reported for this paper. In the closing paragraph I referred to the problems pressing racing at the time. Half a century on the challenges are several multiples more and in the corridors of power the “will he won’t he dance” about whether Lord Allen will take up his role as BHA chairman goes on. From this spot it looks like the Last Chance Saloon.