Racing
'Anyone would want to own Calandagan' - hear from those closest to the world champion about what makes him so special
He was officially the best racehorse on the planet in 2025 and now Calandagan starts out on the defence of his World’s Best Racehorse crown in the $6m Longines Dubai Sheema Classic [G1 2410m], a race which has acclaimed some of the greats of middle-distance turf racing since it was added to the programme in the third year of the Dubai World Cup story.
Fantastic Light and Heart's Cry were major winners in the early years, while St Nicholas Abbey and Cirrus Des Aigles helped cement the race's reputation among the global elite events during its second decade.
In recent years Mishriff, Rebel's Romance and the extraordinary Equinox have all shone under the Meydan floodlights and, on the basis of a string of four Group 1 victories between June and November last year, spanning France, Britain and, momentously, Japan, the Aga Khan Studs' homebred carved his own piece of history.
In doing so Calandagan has become as popular with racing fans as he is admired by racing professionals and ratings experts.
But what is it that really marks out such a champion to those who know him best? And what is the significance to the Aga Khan Studs of breeding and campaigning such an iconic runner in their famous emerald green and red silks?
Trainer Francis Graffard can sometimes be caught in a kind of reverie when recalling the highlights of Calandagan's extraordinary 2025, and he also takes his time in assessing what qualities elevate the son of Gleneagles to a level very few thoroughbreds achieve.
"What makes him better than the rest?" wonders Graffard. "His consistency. Mentally and physically he's made for it and he's so consistent. Nothing bothers him nowadays."
Graffard confirms that Calandagan was not really a problem child in his younger days, more a gawky adolescent.
"He never had a bad temperament but he was more backward and immature than we thought, both mentally and physically," says Graffard.
"To start the season with the best racehorse in the world, it's different. This year he will be the one to beat, everytime he runs. But he doesn't know that, only we do."
Graffard adds: "But it's so good for the sport, he can run on and be competitive and hopefully he stays at the top. He's been so good for us."
Nemone Routh has been a key part of the Aga Khan Studs operation for more than 25 years and the racing manager in France can offer a helicopter view of just what the rise of Calandagan brings to the organisation.
"I think he's hugely important for us," says Routh, who cut her teeth in racing with the International Racing Bureau and who was at Nad Al Sheba the night that Cigar wrote the first chapter of the Dubai World Cup story in 1996.
"He epitomises what we're trying to breed; a high class horse who has that blend of acceleration and strength. He's versatile, he goes on any ground, and he's competitive at a mile and a quarter [2000 metres] and a mile and a half [2400m].
"He proved himself last year to be the complete package and I think it's very important for our brand."
Routh adds: "He takes us to places we're not used to going. We'd never had a winner in Japan before him, and he's invited to all the big races so we can pick and choose where we want to go with him.
"I think anyone would want to own Calandagan."
Calandagan is of course a gelding and will not be directly contributing to future generations at the Aga Khan Studs.
But honour roll still has a huge bearing on his immediate family, as well as promoting the commercial aspirations of two important stallion stations and a broodmare band which regularly features near the top of the buying charts when members are sent to the sales.
"It's a new departure for us to have a gelding who is such a high-class horse," says Routh.
"All of his sisters that have raced have won, and his dam [Calayana] is obviously producing well.
"It was a family we didn't have much of anymore and he's brought it back to life. All those sisters are worth a lot of money so he's added value to our studbook."
Returning to the racetrack and the international arena, Routh adds: "He's a great flagbearer for the stable and he combines everything we do, because he was bred in Ireland, he is trained in France and he races all over the world.
"He combines a lot of the different strands within the Aga Khan Studs."
There is always the temptation for those who work with top-class horses to ascribe human emotions and attributes to their stock.
Regular work rider and travel companion Jeremy Lobel could be excused for indulging in such anthropomorphisms, but his insight into what makes Calandagan tick is as precise as it is revealing.
"Psychologically he is as tough as they come and he really knows his job now," says Lobel. "He has a mentality and a real intelligence that marks him out from the rest."
Reaching for greater detail, Lobel reveals that his partner has a great sense of when and where he is in the buildup to a target.
"Something very particular about Calandagan is that he's a horse who is very calm when he canters, and does just as much as you ask him to do and no more," says Lobel.
"When we're trying to just keep him ticking over between races and we're really not asking him to wake up too much, he gets it.
"Then about a fortnight before the race, when we start asking him to do some stronger canters and move a little bit faster in the mornings, he knows it's time to get into race mode. He understands exactly what is required of him in both scenarios.
"If you leave him alone to go quietly, he doesn't have nearly the same action as that which you saw late this week when he cantered [around the Meydan main dirt track].
"He almost rations his own efforts until you shake the reins and push your hands into his shoulders, then he knows it's time. The response is instant, he changes his legs straight away and he shifts gears."
All of those elements were there in Calandagan when he came from a long way back to chase home Danon Decile in last season's Longines Dubai Sheema Classic.
Since then he has become, in Routh's words, the "complete package", and Meydan is once again the place that Graffard and stud principal Princess Zahra Aga Khan have chosen to launch what they hope will be another stellar season. They and we cannot wait.
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