Calandagan Edges Masquerade Ball by a Head in Japan Cup

In a finish for the ages, the world's top-rated horse, Calandagan (IRE), put a head in front of Japan's star 3-year-old, Masquerade Ball (JPN), at the finish of the 45th Japan Cup, snatching the prize for a foreigner for the first time in 20 years. Calandagan, a French-trained 4-year-old son of Gleneagles (IRE), scored his fourth straight group 1 victory and did it in course-record time of 2:20.3 for the 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) with Mickael Barzalona up for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard and his owner, the Aga Khan Stables. In the end, it was a two-horse race. Sixteen of the 17 starters lingered behind a longshot breakaway leader until the field hit the sweeping turn into the long uphill Tokyo Racecourse stretch. Calandagan was traveling just back of Masquerade Ball. As they crested the rise with some 300 meters to run, jockey Christophe Lemaire urged Masquerade Ball forward around most of the rivals with Barzalona guiding Calandagan up right on his outside flank. The two raced together through the final 100 meters, joined by a horse left riderless, Admire Terra (JPN), when jockey Yuga Kawada was unseated at the start. The outcome was set only in the final strides as a crowd of 77,099 roared its approval. "Once we found our position, he settled very well," Barzalona said. "They were both very brave. He (Masquerade Ball) even put a head in front of me." Asked the evergreen question, what factor enabled him to win, Barzalona quickly drew a laugh with, "I was on the best horse in the race." Asked if he knew he had won, he replied, "Yes." "The race went according to plan," Graffard added. "He traveled the whole way behind the right horse. He is a real champion." The Aga Khan died in February, and his daughter, Princess Zahra Aga Khan, took the reins of his historic and expansive racing and breeding operation. In the subsequent months, the Aga Khan Stud has had a remarkable string of successes, also including victory in October in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) with Daryz (FR). "This has been a very good year, thanks to the people sitting next to me," the Princess said, indicating Graffard and Barzalona. "It's the best year we've had in a very long time. "Our operation has never had a horse in the Japan Cup because we didn't have a horse for the day. We thought Calandagan was that horse." She admitted it was asking a lot for Calandagan to travel to Japan at the end of a long season and challenge the best of the locals. "You never expect to win a race," she said. "But you hope to win the race." As a gelding, Calandagan will race on. Neither the owner nor trainer would specify targets for 2026, but the Princess acknowledged, "Calandagan is the perfect horse to travel to international races." Earlier in the week, a representative of the Aga Khan Stud had indicated the 2026 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Keeneland could be a goal. "If we have a horse for Keeneland, we will be at Keeneland," she said. Calandagan came to Japan atop the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings and fresh from his coronation as Cartier Horse of the Year. He was riding a winning streak that included the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1), the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1), and the Champion Stakes (G1). Masquerade Ball had climbed the ladder in Japan, finishing third in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas, G1) and second in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1) before winning the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1) Nov. 2 in his first run against older horses. Danon Decile (JPN), winner of the 2024 Tokyo Yushun, finished third in the Japan Cup, 2 1/2 lengths back of Masquerade Ball. Croix du Nord (JPN), who won this year's Japanese Derby by 3/4 length from Masquerade Ball, was fourth. The last foreign winner of the Japan Cup was Alkaased, who turned the trick in 2005 with Frankie Dettori up. None have come close since Ouija Board (GB) finished third a year later.