Class act Calandagan comes to the rescue for France with astonishing burst of speed under Stephane Pasquier

Allez Les Bleus! At last. French racing expert Liz Price said it was the largest army that had descended on Royal Ascot in her three decades of covering the sport for Paris-Turf. There was quality to go with the quantity too. There was Big Rock and Facteur Cheval in the Queen Anne, Metropolitan and Darlinghurst in the St James’s Palace Stakes and Horizon Dore in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. 

Then there was Ramatuelle, the filly who went for home about a week too early in the 1,000 Guineas. Oisin Murphy replaced Aurelien Lemaitre for the Coronation Stakes and punters agreed with the substitution so much that they got stuck into her – 7-2 in the morning into 15-8 at the off. 

When her effort flattened out inside the final 200 yards, unable to pick up as well as Porta Fortuna, a bleak and blank week looked long odds-on despite having 23 chances. Cue Calandagan.