youssef_itani
Calandagan has been crowned Cartier Horse of the Year at the 35th Cartier Racing Awards, also claiming the prize for Older Horse.
Francis-Henri Graffard’s four-year-old was not out of the top two in five starts in 2025, landing three Group One titles including the King George and the QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot.
He takes award ahead of QIPCO Champion Stakes runner-up Ombudsman, who captured the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and Juddmonte International, and multiple Group One-winning three-year-olds Delacroix and Minnie Hauk.
Calandagan is the fourth horse bred by the Aga Khan Studs to be crowned Cartier Horse of the Year following Daylami (1999), Dalakhani (2003) and Zarkava (2008), and the first since the passing of His Highness Aga Khan IV in February.
Minnie Hauk recorded her third Oaks triumph of the season in Yorkshire
Aidan O’Brien’s Delacroix and Minnie Hauk collect the Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt and Three-Year-Old Filly awards, respectively, while stablemates Precise (Two-Year-Old Filly) and Gstaad (Two-Year-Old Colt) were also among the winners.
Top Stayer Trawlerman went unbeaten during his domestic campaign this year, picking up the Gold Cup and Long Distance Cup, while Asfoora becomes the third Australian-bred horse to receive the Sprinter award following Black Caviar (2012) and Starspangledbanner (2010) thanks to her wins in the Nunthorpe and Prix de l’Abbaye.
