00:01A dominant Maydown Conquest in the Shima Classic, another Masterclass at Song Clue and a gritty
00:07runner-up finish in the King George. In 2026, Calandigan has cemented his status among the
00:13world's elite. Now, a Francis Graffard-trained superstar is set to take on British Champions
00:19Day once again and he looks primed to succeed. Pat Downs speaks to us about the Geldings origins
00:25and what makes him so special. Calandigan comes from one of the Jean-Luc Lagadère families
00:32that we were fortunate His Highness bought into nearly over 20 years ago now and it was not one
00:42of the deepest families, had produced some good horses and we were looking for, the mare herself
00:48needs a fairly solid, well-made type of horse and we just felt Glen Eagles would suit her well.
00:55And I couldn't, I'd love to be able to say that I saw Calandigan walking around the field
01:00as a foal and knew he was going to be the horse he is, but that would not be the
01:05truth because
01:06he wasn't a standout foal. He became a nice yearling, very athletic, very correct and I remember him
01:15particularly well at Guildhound because he was the last one of the yearlings that were going to France.
01:23He was the last one to go, he was actually two when he went because we had him until March
01:27of his
01:27two-year-old year. We found him a very straightforward goal, I don't know what they did to him when
01:31he
01:31went to France, but he had a great temperament. But obviously when things got a bit tougher for him,
01:37Francis I think to be fair was given no option but to go down the road he did. I suppose
01:43he's unusual
01:45that we won't generally have many older geldings in training, but to have a horse of his ability
01:52is exceptional because normally they would be sold and racing for somebody else. So we're very fortunate
01:58that we still have him, we're having great fun with him. He's taking us to some wonderful places
02:05and hopefully he's not finished yet.
02:07you
