Kalanisi wins the Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot, the first of three victories for the Aga Khan on the opening day of Royal Ascot.

There are considerable rewards awaiting talented older horses that stay on in training and Kalanisi who had an abbreviated if unbeaten three-year-old season upped his Timeform rating from 112p in 1999 to 126 in 2000 by dint of some spectacular performances.

The degree of improvement being made became clear in the Queen Anne Stakes when he credited the Aga Khan with the first of three opening day Royal Ascot winners. However it was his final two Millennium Year achievements that earned him racing headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. After a series of magnificent duels with Giant's Causeway, he got the better of Montjeu by half a length in the Dubai Champion Stakes at Newmarket before travelling to Churchill Downes in Kentucky. There he would reoppose Montjeu over the longer distance of the Breeders' Cup Turf. For the first time he was competing over 1 ½ miles and was set a formidable task as he was only 7th into the straight with four lengths to make up on the leaders.

His task was further complicated when his rider Johnny Murtagh was obliged to make a late switch to the outside to get a clear run but Kalanisi responded with great courage to wear down Quiet Resolve by half a length. Thus for the second successive year an Aga Khan bred son of the 2,000 Guineas winner Doyoun had won the Breeders' Cup Turf. On the dam's side Kalanisi traces to Lindos Ojos a mare that joined the stud in the mid thirties. This family continually produces fast horses including Embellie (1st Prix du Rond-Point GrIII), Kerita (1st Supreme Stakes GrIII) and Keraka (1st Anglesey Stakes GrIII), as well as Kaldoun a successful sire of Group One winners.