The sparkling son of Gleneagles landed the prize twelve months ago to kick off a sensational run of five straight Group 1's, featuring success in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Qipco Champion Stakes and Japan Cup before returning to action with a smooth victory in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March.

A trip to Epsom in an attempt to go one spot better in this year's Coronation Cup was next on the agenda but after a significant amount of rainfall took place and conditions deteriorated, Calandagan failed to perform to the best of his ability, ultimately trailing home some forty lengths behind George Scott's Bay City Roller.

However, having since passed a routine piece of work and with conditions set to be much more to his liking this weekend, Francis-Henri Graffard's star has been given the green light to make his return to action, with connections pleased with what they have seen at home.

"He worked on Tuesday and worked well," said Nemone Routh, racing manager to Aga Khan Studs. "He's never a horse that goes four lengths clear, but we never ask him to either and he seemed in good form. Mickael (Barzalona) rode him and was very happy,"

"We just felt that he's going to get his ground, he seems in good form and that it was good to get him back to the races to hopefully put that Epsom run behind him.

"We were obviously a bit concerned after Epsom, so we just wanted to check he was completely sound, which he was. We tested him and all the results came back well, so I think we just put it down to the fact he really didn't like that ground.

"I don't think he really likes that track very much either. It's a very stiff track and that's twice he's run there now and it's been pretty testing.

"He can handle soft ground, but I don't think we'll risk him on it anymore. He's not a massively strong horse, for him it's all about his movement as he's very athletic."

Calandagan was by no means certain to defend his Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud after his below-par Epsom performance and Routh admitted that Graffard was somewhat hesitant, especially with the recent heatwave that has been running through France.

"Francis (Henri-Graffard) sort of hesitated a bit because I think he felt we had the heatwave last week and it was difficult to work horses," she added. "He was a bit hesitant about whether he was going to get him ready for this race as he didn't want to rush him to get to this race and then compromise him being able to run in the King George. The slight difference with this race (Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud) is that it is a week later.

"It was very hot here last week but he did do a canter and then again, he confirmed to us that he was in good form yesterday, so we will take him to Saint-Cloud and see what happens from there."

The Aga Khan Studs-owned five-year-old has been something of a globetrotting star in recent seasons having enjoyed voyages to Dubai and Japan, but Routh believes it will be nice to see him back on home soil as connections go in search of rediscovering 'the real Calandagan'.

She said: "It's nice that we can just put him in the box for an hour, even though he does travel well. It's a bit less of a task for him than what he normally has to do, which is nice on the back of that Epsom run.

"We know he likes that track and goes very well left-handed. It's a flat track and conditions should be in his favour, so it's just a question of hopefully re-finding the real Calandagan! He's showing us all the right signs at home that he's in good form."