Fourth pick Calandagan became the first foreign-based horse to win the Japan Cup since Alkaased in 2005 and the second French-trained horse since Le Glorieux in 1987, and at the same time, renewed the track record to 2:20.3—the former record (2:20.6) was set by Almond Eye in the 2018 Japan Cup. Now the four-year-old gelding has extended his winning streak to four after his titles in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1, 2,400m) in June, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1, 2,390m) in July and the Champion Stakes (G1, 1,990m) in October. With this win, the son of Gleneagles has earned in addition to the prize money of 500 million yen, a bonus of three million dollars. Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard registered his first victory in his fourth Japan Cup challenge after finishing sixth in 2015 and 14th in 2016 with Erupt, as well as a sixth with Goliath last year. Jockey Mickael Barzalona scored his fourth graded victory—including titles won under JRA’s short-term licenses—and first G1 title in JRA.

The field broke off in front of the heavily packed stands with Admire Terra unseating his jockey immediately after the break as Seiun Hades was rushed to the front to set a rapid pace. While the pacesetter gradually outdistanced himself from the rest of the field, Calandagan traveled fifth from the rear, a couple of lengths behind Masquerade Ball and on the shoulder of Danon Decile. Entering the straight, the Gleneagles gelding drew even with Masquerade Ball and, after picking off other rivals, the stwo showcased a nail-biting duel leading to a photo finish in the last 150 meters, but it was the world’s highest-rated horse who got the best of the duel with the fastest finishing speed right to beat the three-year-old favorite at the wire in a head victory.  

Princess Zahra:
“It has been a very good year thanks to the people sitting next to me and the rest of the team—it’s, I think, the best year we’ve had in a very long time. And of course, I miss my father very much and he was involved, but in terms of the operation, I think we continue to do what we need to do, and with the new training policies thanks to Francis and in collaboration with Mickael, we’ve had a fantastic year. Calandagan is a good horse, he’s trained and has improved throughout the year. Both Francis and Mickael know how to read the horse and bring him to the best place on the right day at the right time.
I don’t think our operation has ever had a Japan Cup runner before because we didn’t have a horse for the day. Calandagan, as Francis said to me at the beginning of the year, was the horse for this race and he had planned this for a very long time. I wasn’t sure in March that we were going to get here. But it’s very amazing, the enthusiasm—we went to Shadai yesterday and saw the stallions there and the breeding operations, it’s fascinating to see the bloodlines that exist in this country—very actually remote to the European bloodlines we have today standing in Europe, so it’s very interesting to me to see what Japan has produced in terms of stallions and bloodlines and I think it’s going to be fascinating to see what those bloodlines do in the future.
Calandagan is the perfect horse to travel for international races, and next year’s Japan Cup is an option. Of course, for next year, we never know, they're horses. But if we can, we can do it. If we can, we probably will. And it's been a great honor to win this race today and to be here. It's been truly an amazing experience.”

Francis-Henri Graffard:
“The horse traveled really well. He was in very good form coming to this race. As Princess Zahra said, we had planned that for some time, and everything went according to plan, and we were delighted with my staff here, how the horse traveled and he was weighing 10 kilos more than before Dubai, so we knew the horse had improved through the season and we were very happy with it.
We were a little bit worried with the speed in the early parts of the race, but Mickael found a good lead behind Christophe Lemaire, and he travelled the whole way behind the right horse in the race, so that gave me a lot of confidence. And then, we never had any trouble into the running, especially in the last bend and climbing up to the front. And the horse, after that, has been really really brave. He’s a real champion as everybody saw today. The race went really according to plan, and well done to the jockey for getting the right lead.
Calandagan is a very well-balanced horse. The mechanic of this horse is just unbelievable. And obviously, he has a very big heart. His action is fantastic—he is able to accelerate for a long period and keep that acceleration for a long time—so I think he has a physical attribute to be the champion he is.”

Mickael Barzalona:
“Calandagan has had some experience now and was very relaxed (from the paddock to the post parade warm-up) and he was actually very quiet all the way. We did a little bit of a warm-up canter before entering the gate. He broke quick from the gate, but he's not the quickest. We were a bit roughed up by the horses coming from the outside and was tight in the beginning, but once we found our position and we found our rhythm, he traveled all the way very well. I'm very happy with where I ended up during the race, which is when Christophe came up with the favorite.
I knew a good horse (Masquerade Ball) could bring me very close and just when we got to the straight, I wasn't sure if he (Lemaire) was going or not, so I had to give a clear run to Calandagan and started to increase my pace. Chris, of course, actually was very close to us and he even got probably a head in front of me when we got to the top of the hill, but Calandagan was the strongest.
(asked about racing against a tough field of competitive Japanese contenders) Well actually Calandagan had a perfect season and proved in Europe that he was the best and then coming here, proved he was the best again in Japan.”

Race favorite Masquerade Ball broke smoothly and rated off the rails outside rivals, further back than mid-division around ninth to tenth behind Seiun Hades while jockey Christophe Lemaire kept a careful watch on riderless Admire Terra who ran along outside him after stumbling at the break and unseating Yuga Kawada. As the field closed in on the pacesetter who had maintained almost ten lengths up to the third corner but eventually began to tire turning for home, Masquerade Ball was shifted to the outside while joined by Calandagan on his outside to charge up the hill from 400 meters out, pinning the leader at the furlong pole and dueled with the eventual winner to the wire for a photo finish that determined the winner had outfinished the Duramente colt in record time.

Third favorite Danon Decile was positioned between rivals around 11th with both the two top finishers in close eye sight but was pinched back at the furlong pole and a fraction late in picking up speed thereafter while showing good acceleration to grab third place, unable to reach the dueling two.

Other Horses:
4th: (2) Croix du Nord—broke sharply, ran 4th, rallied for lead until overtaken by top two at 200m pole, overtaken by Danon Decile 50m out
5th: (1) Justin Palace—rated 4th from rear behind winner, late to enter lane, closed strongly, overtook rivals in last 200m 
6th: (13) Brede Weg—trailed far rear into straight, accelerated from 400m pole, picked off tired rivals with tied-second fastest late kick
7th: (18) Tastiera—buried in mid-pack, accelerated in early stretch, a factor up to 300m marker, ran out of steam in last 100m
8th: (16) Shin Emperor—rushed out for a forward position while racing wide, shuffled back briefly at early stretch, mild rally to wire
9th: (3) Cosmo Kuranda—was quick out of gate to hug rails and positioned near front of second group, shifted out slightly for stretch run but showed little
10th: (10) Struve—second from last most of the way, no factor
11th: (4) Deep Monster—fraction slow out of gate raced mid-pack along rails, even paced
12th: (9) Seiun Hades—made rapid pace, opened lead to almost ten lengths down backstretch, tired
13th: (7) Danon Beluga—saved ground near rear, unable to reach contention
14th: (12) Yoho Lake—positioned off pace behind winner, one paced once entering straight
15th: (5) Sunrise Earth—tracked leaders in 5th, then 3rd down backstretch, dropped back turning for home
16th: (6) Ho O Biscuits—chased leader in distant second made ground to almost reach leader but faded from 400m out
Fail to Finish: (11) Admire Terra—stumbled at gate and unseated rider
Scratched: (17) Durezza—lameness in his left foreleg

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 26,008,143,100       Turnover for the Day: ¥ 36,934,598,900       Attendance: 77,029

Winner= 14 starts: 8 wins, 5 seconds & 1 third / Added & stakes money: ¥ 503,780,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 1,230,680,000

* Japan Cup (G1)

The Japan Cup, in its 45th year, continues to attract some of the top turf horses from around the world—67 runners from North America, 158 from Europe, 26 from Oceania and five from Asia—while a number of runners have made this race their starting point towards further international success in following years.
In last year’s edition, Do Deuce (JPN, by Heart’s Cry) claimed his fifth G1 title with a neck victory and was awarded the Horse of the Year of 2024 while Shin Emperor and Durezza shared the runner-up seat. Three foreign contenders, Goliath (GER, by Adlerflug), Auguste Rodin (IRE, by Deep Impact) and Fantastic Moon (GER, by Sea The Moon) finished sixth, eighth and 11th, respectively.
This year, the Japan Cup welcomed Calandagan, currently rated at the top of the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, who came off three consecutive G1 victories in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (2,400m) in June, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2,390m) in July and the Champion Stakes (1,990m) in October.
The home field taking on the challenge included runners coming off the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1, 2,000m; Nov.2): Masquerade Ball (winner), who was third in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, 2,000m) in April and second in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, 2,400m) in June; Justin Palace (3rd), winner of the 2023 Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1, 3,200m); Seiun Hades (7th), winner of the Epsom Cup (G3, 1,800m) in May; Tastiera (8th), the 2023 Tokyo Yushun winner, who claimed his second G1 title in the Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,000m) in April; Brede Weg (10th), winner of the 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m); Cosmo Kuranda (12th), runner-up in last year’s Satsuki Sho; and Ho O Biscuits (13th), the third-place finisher in the 2024 Tenno Sho (Autumn).
Coming off the Kyoto Daishoten (G2, 2,400m, Oct.5) were: Deep Monster (winner) who claimed his first grade-race title in the race; Sunrise Earth (2nd) and Admire Terra (4th), respective winners of the Hanshin Daishoten (G2, 3,000m) and the Meguro Kinen (G2, 2,500m); and Durezza (8th), 2023 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m) champion who was tied second in last year’s Japan Cup. However, Durezza was scratched due to a lameness in his left foreleg.
Coming off their overseas endeavor were: Danon Decile, last year’s Japanese Derby and this year’s Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, 2,410m) champion who finished fifth in the International Stakes (G1, 2,050m) on August 20; Shin Emperor, who shared runner-up seat with Durezza in the Japan Cup last year and was sixth in the Irish Champion Stakes (G1, 2,000m) on September 13; and Croix du Nord, this year’s Tokyo Yushun victor who disappointed to 14th in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1, 2,400m) on October 5.
Also among the field were: Danon Beluga, 2023 Dubai Turf (G1, 1,800m) runner-up, coming off a 13th in the Niigata Kinen (G3, 2,000m) on August 31; Struve, two-time G2 victor at 2,500 meters who finished fifth in the Copa Republica Argentina (G2, 2,500m) on November 9; and Yoho Lake, three-time graded winner who finished third in both the Osaka Hai (G1, 2,000m) in April and All Comers (G2, 2,200m) on September 21.