1 of 3 | Calandagan wins Saturday’s Group 1 British Champion Stakes at Ascot. Photo by Dan Abraham/focusonracing.com, courtesy of Breeders’ Cup

Oct. 20 (UPI) — Autumn ushers in monumental weekends of horse racing around the globe and this one — set between the Arc weekend and the Breeders’ Cup — was no exception.

Calandagan won the British Champion Stakes after Group 1 upsets at 200-1 and 100-1 earlier in the day at Ascot. Hong Kong’s Ka Ying Rising made short work of Australia’s finest sprinters in the world’s richest turf race and Embroidery won the final leg of Japan’s Filly Triple Crown.

Yes, all in one smashing weekend of horse racing around the globe.

And Wednesday, we find out who’s coming to the Breeders’ Cup party at Del Mar. The deadline for pre-entries is Monday.

British Champions Day

Calandagan, a 4-year-old Gleneagles gelding from the late Aga Khan’s studs, swept from the back of the talented field to win Saturday’s Group 1 British Champion Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths from the favorite, Godolphin’s Ombudsman. Sheik Ahmed Al Maktoum’s Almaqam nosed out Coolmore’s Delacroix for third.

Calandagan won his third straight Group 1 following the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the King George, all taken by decisive margins.

Saturday’s race was straightforward. Winning rider Mickael Barzalona allowed a pair of rabbits to set a brisk pace, cranked up Calandagan at the top of the stretch and was on lead with a fair piece of ground to go. The others had every shot. but couldn’t dent his armor.

Francis-Henri Graffard, who also trains Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Daryz, had an interesting observation about the two.

“Work is so easy for him, but he needs to work,” Graffard said of Calandagan.

“I was quite far from the Champion Stakes, but I had to put him in a gallop with Daryz before Arc weekend because I needed him to be fitter for today. He was looking at Daryz like this [glancing to the side and smiling, as if saying] ‘Come with me. I’ll show you how it works.’

“It was unbelievable, but looking back now, it was a gallop with an Arc winner and a Champion Stakes winner.”

As a gelding, Calandagan is expected back on the track in 2026. It would be a surprise to see any of the others risked again in combat although the Coolmore “lads” dissembled a bit in prerace interviews in discussing Delacroix.

The Champion Stakes was one of five Group 1 races on the card, all sponsored by Qipco. Of the remaining four, two returned surprises.

The Sprint, in fact, was a stunner as 200-1 chance Powerful Glory, with Jamie Spencer up, outfinished 2-1 favorite Lazat by 1/2 length. Powerful Glory had only two previous starts this year in a campaign interrupted by throat surgery. It wasn’t the strongest field the race has ever seen but still …

If not for the Sprint, the subsequent Queen Elizabeth II Stakes down the straight mile would have been enough surprise on its own, as 100-1 shot Cicero’s Gift accelerated to the late lead and won by 1 1/2 lengths over The Lion In Winter. The favorite, St James’s Palace Stakes winner Field of Gold, finished fifth.

Otherwise, odds-on favorite Trawlerman won the Long-Distance Cup by 1 1/2 lengths over Sweet William and favorite Kalpana scooped the Fillies & Mares Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths over Estrange.

The Everest

“Veni, vidi, vici,” Julius Caesar said in reporting to the Roman Senate on his swift victory in the Battle of Zela in 47 B.C. — “I came. I saw. I conquered.”

Hong Kong superstar sprinter Ka Ying Rising could say no less after swiftly conquering Australia’s best Saturday in the Group 1 The Everest — at AUS$20 million, the world’s richest turf race.

This race, like the Champion Stakes at Ascot, was straightforward. Jockey Zac Purton kept Ka Ying Rising third around the turn, gave him his cue and was in front inside the 200 meters.

He was there for the catching, but no one could do it. And Purton said the 5-year-old, who extended his win streak to 14, wasn’t even asked for his best effort.

“He got a little edgy in the gates, but to his credit, he still began well and we had a beautiful run in the race,” Purton said. “He’s a special horse. I don’t think we saw him at his best today but even not at his best, he’s still good enough.”

Ka Ying Rising heads home to prepare to defend his title in the Longines Hong Kong Sprint on Dec. 14, but his owners said they hope to return to Sydney for another go in The Everest in 2026.

Japan

The question mark behind Embroidery’s name before Sunday’s Grade 1 Shuka Sho was whether the Admire Mars filly could last out the 2,000 meters. She proved she could, rallying from just behind pacesetter Erika Express to win by 1/2 length in the final leg of Japan’s Filly Triple Crown.

Embroidery won the first leg of the series, the Grade 1 Oka Sho or Japanese One Thousand Guineas, going 1,600 meters, but then faltered when asked to stretch out to 2,400 meters in the Yushun Himba or Japanese Oaks, finishing ninth. Oaks winner Kamunyak finished 16th as the favorite in the Shuka Sho.

“I had every faith in the filly that she would deliver today since the Oaks didn’t suit her distance-wise,” winning jockey Christophe Lemaire said of Embroidery.

“She was calm and relaxed in the first half of the race, and while the pace slowed down in the backstretch, we were able to advance to a better position. It took a while for her engine to get started but she showed an incredible turn of foot in the last 200 meters.”

Embroidery, out of the Kurofune mare Rottenmeier (JPN), was bred by Tenei Horse Park Ltd. She carries the powder blue silks with red dots of Silk Racing Co., Ltd.