Following the Aga Khan’s death on Tuesday [Feb 4] at the age of 88, we turn the spotlight on the best horses to carry his famous and familiar emerald green and red silks as part of one of the greatest racing and bloodstock empires the sport has ever known
1. Shergar
foaled 1978, by Great Nephew
trainer Michael Stoute
8 races, 6 wins (including 3 G1s)
This brilliant colt is, for the wrong reasons, the most easily identified of the Aga Khan’s stock by the apocryphal ‘man in the street’. His abduction from stud after one covering season in Ireland and swift, mysterious demise lent him public infamy; his sensational performances on the racetrack gave him, in contrast, eternal fame.
The white-faced paragon, who descended from the Aga Khan’s grandfather’s foundation mare Mumtaz Mahal, had won his two warm-up races for the 1981 Derby with remarkable, wide-margin ease and embodied the perfect racehorse on that sunny day at Epsom.
He dominated the Derby like no other before or since, surging to the lead more than three furlongs from home and barrelling clear to win by ten lengths that would have been more but for being eased down 100 yards from the line. Subsequent victories in the Irish Derby (four lengths) and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes (four lengths) added further sheen to the dazzle of that glorious Shergar summer.
2. Zarkava
foaled 2005, by Zamindar
trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre
7 races, 7 wins (inclduing 5 G1s)
Unbeaten records are not always the hallmark of greatness but in the case of Zarkava the two went hand in hand, and this dual champion is the best filly bred or owned by the Aga Khan.
All her seven victories were gained by at least two lengths, a golden thread of easy superiority that stretched from the Prix Marcel Boussac on her second start, a performance that garnered end-of-year honours, through the following season’s Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas), Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and Prix Vermeille, before reaching a sublime denouement in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on her only start against males.
This was as straightforward a success as all the others had been, Zarkava ghosting through the pack to lead inside the final furlong and win going away by two lengths under a languid hand-ride. At stud, she produced G1 winner and successful sire Zarak, continuing a dynasty that extended all the way back to the aforementioned Mumtaz Mahal.
3. Daylami
foaled 1994, by Doyoun
trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre
21 races, 11 wins, 7 G1s
The elegant grey Daylami did not show his majestic best for his owner-breeder, racing for the Aga Khan at two and three before being sold to Godolphin and developing into an outstanding globetrotting champion at four and five.
His finest hour in the evocative green and red silks came with success in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas), but he failed to win again in three starts over a mile before his sale. Maturity and a greater test of stamina were the key to his improvement, with victory in the Eclipse Stakes and the Man o’ War Stakes merely the harbingers for a scintillating five-year-old campaign.
He trounced his rivals by five lengths in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, tore them to shreds when coasting to a nine-length score in the Irish Champion Stakes, and bounced back from the worst performance of his life in the Arc to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on his final start.
4. Petite Etoile
foaled 1956, by Petition
trainer Noel Murless
19 races, 14 wins (including 7 G1s in modern reckoning)
Petite Etoile certainly was a little star but, like Daylami, she showed her best for another owner, on this occasion the Aga Khan’s father Prince Aly Khan.
No more than a promising sort as a juvenile, she blossomed early at three and bore fruit the entire year, going six-for-six between a mile and a mile and a half through a memorable campaign that included the 1,000 Guineas, the Oaks, the Sussex Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Champion Stakes.
Prince Aly Khan was killed in a car crash in May 1960 and the filly was inherited by the Aga Khan, and although she was never quite so dominant again she won her young owner two editions of the Coronation Cup and was dramatically beaten at 2-5 odds in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, finishing an unlucky runner-up on unsuitably soft ground.
“She was a peculiar animal,” said trainer Noel Murless. “She was grey and loved to have a grey in front of her in the string, and more particularly a grey behind her. She was unique in every way.”
5. Sinndar
foaled 1997, by Grand Lodge
trainer John Oxx
8 races, 7 wins (including 4 G1s)
Uniqueness is rare in life and rarer still in horse racing – unless you are Petite Etoile, see above – but only one horse has ever won the Derby, the Irish Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Sinndar stands alone.
A G1 winner over a mile at two, Sinndar came into his own when moved up to a mile and a half and provided his owner-breeder with a fourth Derby (of five) when overcoming a strong field at Epsom, employing his rich reserves of stamina to wear down the brilliant Sakhee (who would the following year win the Arc by six lengths) to score by a length.
The Irish Derby was far easier, a nine-length rout, and he completed what might deservedly be called a ‘Triple Crown’ at Longchamp, where he was ridden to maximise the potential of his stamina. Committed early, he kept his rivals at arm’s length all the way up the straight to claim victory by a length and a half.
6. Shahrastani
foaled 1983, by Nijinsky
trainer Michael Stoute
7 races, 4 wins (including 2 G1s)
Good luck is an important factor in every horse’s career and Shahrastani had the bad luck to be foaled in the same year as all-time great Dancing Brave, whose achievements overshadowed those of his contemporary.
Even in his finest hour Shahrastani was subordinate to his nemesis, as his gallant, worthy victory in the Derby was practically eclipsed by the furore surrounding Dancing Brave. He took the honours and the glory by a length, but the perception was that Dancing Brave would have won but for the misfortune – luck a factor again – of exaggerated waiting tactics allied to the eccentric contours of the track.
Shahrastani was thus almost overlooked, but on his next outing he took luck out of the equation and underlined his deep wealth of talent when streaking clear to win the Irish Derby by eight lengths. In another year he might have been pre-eminent, but the pesky Dancing Brave beat him into fourth place in both the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and arguably the best-ever renewal of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
7. Dalakhani
foaled 2000, by Darshaan
trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre
9 races, 8 wins (including 4 G1s)
It is a little ironic that Alamshar, the horse who denied Dalakhani a perfect record, was also owned by the Aga Khan, but this half-brother to the slightly mightier Daylami was not defined by this solitary blot on his award-winning copybook.
He had a shorter fuse than his half-sibling, sparkling into life when winning a G1 at two and continuing his exemplary progress with victories in the Prix Lupin and the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby), in the latter demonstrating the stamina that Daylami would grow into with a comfortable two-length success at Chantilly.
The Irish Derby was expected to be a formality – he was a 4-7 chance – but he lost the race and his unbeaten record when going under by a half-length to Epsom Derby third Alamshar, who carried the second-choice chocolate and green hooped colours formerly owned by Prince Aly Khan. (Kahyasi had won the Derby for the Aga in 1988 in the same ‘second-choice’ silks.)
Dalakhani shrugged off that Curragh indignity three months later in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, becoming his owner’s third Arc winner (of four). Not perfect, then, but not far off.
8. Blushing Groom
foaled 1974, by Red God
trainer Francois Mathet
10 races, 7 wins (including 5 G1s)
The only horse in this list not bred by the Aga Khan or his forebears, Blushing Groom was arguably his owner’s most accomplished two-year-old – and pedigree connoisseurs can take solace from the knowledge that his dam Runaway Bride had been bred by the Aga Khan before being sent to the sales.
He tore through his two-year-old campaign like a tiger, finishing third on debut before compiling a five-streak that embraced the four G1s then on offer to juveniles in France - the Robert Papin, the Morny, the Salamandre and the Grand Criterium – on his merry way to championship honours.
He picked up where he left off as a sophomore, seeing off the opposition in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) by three lengths, before being sent for the Derby at Epsom as favourite despite the inescapable fact that his sire Red God was a sprinter with no record of producing middle-distance horses.
Blood will out; he palpably failed to stay the Derby distance, fading with two furlongs to run but nevertheless acquitting himself well to take third place, a long way behind the duellists The Minstrel and Hot Grove.
9. Charlottesville
foaled 1957, by Prince Chevalier
trainer Alec Head
9 races, 6 wins (inclduing 3 G1s in modern reckoning)
As in the case of Petite Etoile (see above), Charlottesville was bred and owned by Prince Aly Khan until coming into the ownership of the Aga Khan, and his prowess may have been significant in reinforcing his new owner’s affection for racing.
He had won the Prix Lupin for the ill-fated prince, and just weeks later he provided the Aga Khan with his first success (of eight) in the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby), appreciating the step up in distance (in those days the Jockey Club was run at a mile and a half) and running out an impressive three-length winner.
Stamina was his long suit, and he used the Jockey Club as a springboard to a three-length victory in the extremely prestigious Grand Prix de Paris, then run over a mile and seven furlongs. Soft ground scuppered his bid for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – he finished sixth – but he went on to be the Aga Khan’s first notable stallion, becoming champion sire in Britain and Ireland in 1966.
10. Lashkari
foaled 1981, by Mill Reef
trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre
13 races, 5 wins (including 1 G1)
The advent of the Breeders’ Cup is one of the most significant events in racing over the last five decades, and although on any other metric Lashkari is not one of the great horses owned or bred by the Aga Khan, his upset victory at the inaugural North American championships at Hollywood Park in 1984 merits his inclusion in this list.
The son of the great Mill Reef had done little to suggest he was capable of making such headlines, being unraced at two and never previously successful at G1 level, hence his 53-1 odds in a very deep, very international field for the $2m Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Yet he performed as though he belonged, putting his owner-breeder in the spotlight on the richest day of racing the sport had known, emphasising the global grasp and reach of the Aga Khan’s bloodstock empire when coming through late to deny his top-class compatriot All Along by a neck, an exacta lifted straight from the Bois de Boulogne.
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