Kalpana strikes in Ascot feature
French ace Calandagan could not reel in Kalpana as the mare toughed it out in the £2million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
The 13-2 winner has been ultra-consistent for Andrew Balding's team but many racing fans found it tricky to see how she would reverse last year's form with the favourite. However Juddmonte-owned Kalpana answered rider Colin Keane's every call and the pair kept going with gusto to beat Francis-Henri Graffard's trainee comprehensively by a length-and-a-half.
Graffard felt the 20-day break between the Ascot race and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud Calandagan had to battle to win could have taken the edge off his star.
"It is a very good run, I have nothing to blame the horse for," he said on ITV Racing. "Kalpana is a very good filly, Andrew's horses seem to be flying at the moment. "He (Calandagan) had less time between his last race compared to last year. He had a hard race today so I need to see how he comes back."
Kalpana, in the first three in 15 of her 16 races before the 'King George', was brought past pace-setting Lambourn with two furlongs to go, as Aidan O'Brien-trained stablemate Minnie Hauk cracked. Ballydoyle number one, Benvenuto Cellini, the mount of Ryan Moore, was right next to her with Calandagan as battled commenced. But Kalpana found the most of the trio to gain a third triumph at the highest level, with Balding cheering her home and punching the air in delight.
“It is a big deal as it is a race that we have always wanted to win," said Balding. “Just for the season she seems leaner, slimmer and easier to train. Last year we were always struggling to keep the weight off her, but this year she is just a much finer model, and I think she was that much fitter today. It worked out perfectly."
Keane added on Sky Sports Racing: "Although she's won two Group Ones, she probably deserves to have won a couple more and she showed her true class today. I think it was one of the strongest renewals of the race with horses coming from all over the globe so for her to go and do it today is very special."
