Calandagan has been officially named the best racehorse in the world for 2025 after a sensational season that saw him dominate elite competition across multiple countries.

The outstanding performer topped the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings with a rating of 130, earning global recognition at the Longines World Racing Awards.

His achievements over the year set him apart from an exceptionally strong group of rivals and confirmed his status as a truly exceptional talent.

Sometimes this award is given to horses that haven’t really put themselves up against the best, staying in their homeland, but you definitely can’t say that about the French runner, who has been all over the world.

Calandagan Named 2025 World Champion

An incredibly consistent season and a series of four Group 1 wins in a row laid the foundations for this success, a fantastic training performance. Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, Calandagan showed his class early in the season with a commanding performance in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

That came on the back of two runner-up efforts, in the Dubai Sheema Classic and Coronation Cup at Epsom, to start his season.

But after winning at Saint Cloud, things went from strength to strength. That success was the first of four consecutive Group 1 wins, a spell from June to November where this horse was definitely the best in the world.

Second win, at Ascot, where he landed the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. After a summer break, he would be back at Ascot, this time in October, to win the Champion Stakes and further cement his reputation with British fans.

Finally, while it may not have got the same plaudits, arguably his biggest triumph to date was winning the Japan Cup in November at Tokyo Racecourse.

In a thrilling finish, he battled relentlessly to defeat elite local runners, becoming the first foreign trained horse in two decades to win the prestigious race. That success not only highlighted his adaptability to different racing styles and conditions but also showed he could maintain top-quality form over a long period of time, five months at this stage.

Best of the Rest

Calandagan won the contest in 2025, but what about those behind him? It was a close-run affair, rated 130 at the top, Calandagan had five horses 2lb off him with a rating of 128.

This goes to show the kind of quality that we’ve got in racing around the globe at the moment. It’s great to see. Ombudsman was the sole British runner from that, while Sovereignty was the USA representative.

The other three runners on 128 all came from Asia: Ka Ying Rising from Hong Kong and two Japanese runners, Forever Young and Masquerade Ball.

Calandagan will race again in 2026

The best news about Calandagan came out a few weeks back, after his Japan Cup win, when it was confirmed that he would return in 2026 to race again.

Unlike many champions, Calandagan is a gelding and therefore has no future at stud. As a result, his connections have confirmed that he will return to the racecourse in 2026.

Plans are already being discussed for another ambitious campaign, no doubt featuring major races across Europe and further international targets, much the same as what we’ve seen in 2025.

In a time when we often see racing’s top superstars exiting the sport a little too early, in order to go to stud, Calandagan is a rare exception, and is a great story to get us set for the 2026 flat racing season.