Calandagan's trainer reacts to King George win at Ascot - 'I never had any doubts'
Calandagan ran straight and true in the heat of battle to give trainer Francis Graffard back-to-back triumphs in Ascot's King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
A defeat by Jan Brueghel in the Coronation Cup at Epsom caused some onlookers to question the four-year-old's stomach for the fight.
The loss had been Calandagan's fourth in a row at the highest level, a sequence that had ended with a maiden Group 1 success in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud four weeks ago.
When sent in pursuit of Kalpana, who had burst two lengths clear of her four opponents entering the final two furlongs of the mile-and-a-half Group 1 prize, well-backed 11-10 favourite Calandagan didn't flinch.
'I never had any doubts about his will to win,' smiled Chantilly-based Graffard after watching Mickaël Barzalona, carrying the colours of the gelding's owner-breeder, the late Aga Khan, to the front 100 yards from the winning post for a one-length margin, with Rebel's Romance repeating his third place of 12 months earlier.
'At Epsom, after the race I couldn't say it was because he doesn't want to try - and the jockey never reported that to me, either.'
The 75th King George unfolded to the consternation of those who believed Aidan O'Brien's Continuous was in the line-up to make the pace for stablemate Jan Brueghel.
Wayne Lordan was content to ride shotgun aboard Continuous as Ryan Moore cut out a funeral cortège gallop on last year's St Leger winner, who found a change of gear beyond him when Oisín Murphy committed Kalpana for home and completed in fourth.
Barzalona, who had anchored Calandagan at the back before switching wide in the straight, admitted: 'I expected the race to go quicker.
'I was waiting to see what happened and when I saw Oisín making the move, I followed.
'These are the races you want to win. I was very young when I won the Derby [on Pour Moi in 2011] and this one is very special.'
Graffard is now likely to send Calandagan to York on August 20, when he will bid to better last year's second to O'Brien's City Of Troy.
'The way he can quicken is very impressive,' he reasoned. 'He has proven in every single race that he is a very good horse.'
His status as a gelding bars Calandagan from running in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on October 5, for which Kalpana is now the 8-1 market leader.
'I think that is a career-best effort and we will be working back from Paris in October,' said her trainer Andrew Balding.
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