Champion Stakes: Calandagan, Barred from the Arc as a Gelding, Defends His Title at Ascot with Soumillon

On Saturday 17 October 2026, at 4.05pm UK time (5.05pm in Paris), Calandagan puts his title on the line again in the Champion Stakes, the centrepiece of British Champions Day at Ascot. The Aga Khan’s horse, trained at Chantilly by Francis-Henri Graffard, won the race in 2025. Two details make his return unusual: he is a gelding, which closes the door on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for good, and he will not be ridden by his regular jockey. With Mickaël Barzalona suspended, Christophe Soumillon takes over in the green silks with red epaulettes.

Champion Stakes 2026: Time, Distance and Saturday’s Line-Up at Ascot

British Champions Day closes the Flat season in Britain. The 2026 edition changes sponsor: Qatar Racing succeeds QIPCO as title partner. The card runs to seven races, five of them Group 1, with total prize money announced at £4.35 million.

• 12.55pm: Long Distance Cup, over about 2 miles (3,200 m).
• 1.20pm: conditions race for two-year-olds, over 6 furlongs (1,200 m).
• 2.05pm: Sprint Stakes, over 6 furlongs (1,200 m).
• 2.45pm: Fillies and Mares Stakes, open to fillies and mares only.
• 3.25pm: Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, over a mile, where Soumillon will also ride the Aga Khan’s Rayif.
• 4.05pm: Champion Stakes, over about 1 mile 2 furlongs (2,000 m), worth £1.3 million, the richest race of the day.
• 4.40pm: Balmoral Handicap, which closes the meeting.

All times are local. The United Kingdom and France both stay on summer time until 25 October, so add one hour for Paris time. The Champion Stakes drew 45 entries at the initial stage, including Ombudsman, the horse Calandagan beat last year. The final field will not be known until declarations, midweek.

Why Calandagan, as a Gelding, Was Never Allowed to Run in the Arc de Triomphe

Calandagan was born on 27 January 2021 in Ireland, by Gleneagles out of the mare Calayana, bred by the Aga Khan. He was gelded after his first start, in August 2023 at Deauville. His trainer explained it plainly: there was no alternative, and he preferred “a very good gelding to a poor stallion”. The gamble paid off, but it came at a price.

The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is closed to geldings. The race was conceived as a selection test for future breeding stock, and a gelded horse will never sire foals. Calandagan, named the world’s best racehorse in 2025, has therefore never been able to contest Europe’s greatest race. There is an irony in the yard: it is his stablemate Daryz, a two-time Arc winner, who carries the stable’s colours at Longchamp. Calandagan has made Ascot his own ground.

Gelding also has an economic consequence. An entire male who wins several Group 1s is valued above all for his future career at stud, which explains the record prices we cover in our feature on the most expensive horse in the world. A gelding is worth only what he wins on the track, which is why he is still racing at five, when most of the great colts of his generation have already gone to stud.

Soumillon Replaces Barzalona: The Suspension That Changes the Aga Khan Horse’s Jockey

Since 2025, Calandagan has been ridden in every race by Mickaël Barzalona. But the French jockey received a two-day suspension for improper use of the whip over Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp, aboard Fairy Glen, winner of the Prix de Royallieu. His two days fall on Ascot.

The Aga Khan’s team made its decision on 9 October: Calandagan in the Champion Stakes and Rayif, a two-time Group 1 winner over a mile, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, will both be ridden by Christophe Soumillon. For the Belgian jockey, it is a homecoming: he wore the green silks with red epaulettes as contract rider from 2002 to 2009, then again from 2014 to 2022. He thanked Princess Zahra Aga Khan for “renewing his trust”, adding that he had lived “the best part” of his career with this stable.

Switching jockeys on a horse of this age is less risky than it sounds: Calandagan is a known quantity with settled manners, and Soumillon has ridden horses of this breeding for more than twenty years. The real unknown lies elsewhere: the jockey will discover his mount in the race itself, without the reference of the morning gallops at Chantilly.

Calandagan in 2026: The Defending Champion’s Season, Race by Race

His 2025 was historic. He won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, then the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July, then the Champion Stakes in October, beating Ombudsman by two and a quarter lengths. The King George and Champion Stakes double in the same season had previously been achieved only by Brigadier Gerard, in 1972. He then won the Japan Cup in Tokyo on 30 November, by a head, the first foreign-trained winner since 2005, breaking the world record for 1 mile 4 furlongs (2,400 m) on turf (2 min 20.3 s).

The 2026 season has been more uneven:

• 28 March, Dubai Sheema Classic (Meydan): won, by three-quarters of a length.
• 6 June, Coronation Cup (Epsom): fourth, his worst placing since his debut.
• 5 July, Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud: won, by a neck, as last year.
• 25 July, King George (Ascot): second, behind Kalpana.

He has not run since. He therefore arrives at Ascot fresh, after almost three months off, with two wins and two defeats this year. His racehorse profile traces his full record.

What We Still Do Not Know Before the Champion Stakes at Ascot

Several points remain open as we write, on 12 October. The final field is not yet known: of the 45 entries, only a small proportion will be declared. Nor do we know the state of the ground, which depends heavily on the week’s rain. Calandagan’s programme after Ascot has not been confirmed by his connections; the British press mentions a return to Japan, with no confirmation to date. Finally, nothing has been said about the horse’s future at six: a gelding can race for several more seasons, and it is his owner who will decide.

To follow the horse’s connections, see the profile of his trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, that of Mickaël Barzalona, his regular jockey, and our page on the Aga Khan studs and stables.