Aga Khan Studs don’t race a lot of geldings, but one that they do is Calandagan, who shook off his G1 bridesmaid tag winning the Group I Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in France, while in Ireland the Coolmore machine kept the winning run going to take out the Group I Irish Derby (1 ½ m).

The breeding of thoroughbreds is a very inexact science which is why we saw siblings to a pair of Group I winners fighting out the finish of a very pedestrian 1100m maiden at Ballarat on Sunday.