Zarigana (nearside) is narrowly beaten by stablemate Vertical Blue (obscured)

Zarigana part of strong Graffard team for Royal Ascot

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Wed June 11, 2025 · 7M ago

Francis Graffard is looking forward to unleashing Zarigana as part of his strongest ever Royal Ascot squad next week.

The Chantilly-based trainer has enjoyed some memorable days at the course over the years, not least high-profile wins for Calandagan in last year's King Edward VII Stakes and Goliath in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes the following month.

This year he's planning on running more of his stable stars at the Royal meeting, including the Aga Khan-owned Zarigana who was awarded the French 1000 Guineas in the Longchamp stewards' room earlier this season.

Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast, Graffard said: "I think it’s a fantastic meeting and the owners really look forward to it. As soon as you win a race with a two-year-old the owners are thinking Royal Ascot, but I don’t want to run just for the sake of it.

"I’m taking very nice horses and I’m very happy to have a strong team. Now we need to win!"

Among those horses is Prince Of Wales's Stakes contender Map Of Stars for the Wathnan Racing operation, a four-year-old colt who won his first two starts this season before being beaten a neck by Arc favourite Sosie in the Prix Ganay when last seen on April 27.

The trainer, who also revealed he has the option to supplemented a couple of smart three-year-old sprinters into the Commonwealth Cup, said: "Map Of Stars is in very good shape and we’re looking forward to him.

"We have Zarigana in the Coronation Stakes, she’s in very good shape too and good ground will suit her.

"I will probably have a filly also in the Ribblesdale - Tajlina - I just have to discuss with the owner but she's in great form. She won her Group 3 and she has never stopped improving so she might go for that. We should have an interest week."

The Gold Cup is among the most prestigious races of the entire week and the Graffard-trained Candelari will bid to become the French winner since Elie Lellouche's Westerner struck under Olivier Peslier 20 years ago.

Graffard said: "Candelari is in good form, I couldn’t be happier with him. We need good ground with him.

"I think he will stay the trip, obviously it going to be a very strong race – a tough race – but I’m happy to take my horse there."

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'If they were all like him I'd be very happy'

Reflecting on last week's Betfred Derby Festival, Graffard was left with a sense of what could have been after Calandagan was edged out of the Coronation Cup by Jan Brueghel and Midak finished 10th in the Derby.

The trainer said: "Calandagan ran a very good race and he came out (of the race) really well.

"We were not disappointed with his run, I think he ran a very strong race again. He’s a lovely horse and we will see if we go to the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud or come back to England and go for the Eclipse with him.

"The ground was on the testing side and when they started climbing again in the last 100 metres my horse struggled to pass Aidan’s horse, and also he hadn’t had a race in Europe before that so I think it was a good performance.

"If they were all like Calandagan I’d be very happy, he always tries his best and always puts in a strong performance at the top level."

As for excuses for Midak, Graffard wasted no time with his response.

"The ground," he said. "Midak travelled really nicely in a great position. Unfortunately when he was asked to pick up, only the horses with ground ability picked up. Looking at the result of the race, they were all with form on heavy ground.

"Mine was not able to pick up unfortunately, it went against us."

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