HH The Aga Khan – 1936 – 2025

The Aga Khan IV, one of the most influential owner-breeders in the world and the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, died on February 4 aged 88.

His passing, which prompted a wave of tributes from leading racing figures across the globe, brought an end to an era that started in 1960 when, aged 23, the Aga Khan took control of his family’s bloodstock operation following the death of his father Prince Aly Khan.

Many homebred champions would race in his emerald-green silks with red epaulettes over the next 65 years, none more famous than the exceptional Shergar, ten-length winner of the 1981 Derby at Epsom. The son of Great Nephew followed up in the Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes before his subsequent kidnap and killing by the IRA.

Shergar, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, was the first of five Derby victors for the Aga Khan, who also captured the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) on eight occasions and the Irish Derby six times, while brilliant mare Zarkava provided the last of his four triumphs in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

His most recent Group 1 victory came in the 2024 Oaks courtesy of the Dermot Weld-trained filly Ezeliya, now a member of the Aga Khan Studs broodmare band.

Born Karim Al-Husseini in December 1936 into a family that traced its routes back to Persia (later Iran), horses would become an integral part of life for all those who held the Aga Khan title.

The Aga Khan I – the 46th Imam of the Nizari Ismailis, a branch of Shia Islam – had owned racehorses in India from 1820 while the European racing and breeding operation was established in 1921 by the Aga Khan III, grandfather of the late Aga Khan IV.

In a sport dominated by members of the aristocracy and upper classes, the Aga Khan III became a prominent and successful owner-breeder, laying the foundations for the future success of his grandson’s thoroughbred empire.

Not only did the Aga Khan III enjoy 17 English Classic successes as an owner, including the Derby on five occasions, a sequence started by Blenheim in 1930, but some of his early yearling purchases, including a grey daughter of The Tetrarch named Mumtaz Mahal, went on to exert a huge influence on the breed.

When the Aga Khan III died in 1957, the Aga Khan title passed not to his son, Prince Aly Khan, but to his grandson, Karim, who was 20 at the time. Prince Aly Khan, whose second wife was Hollywood film star Rita Hayworth, assumed control of the family’s bloodstock, the brilliant filly Petite Etoile taking the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks in 1959. Tragically, he died the following year in a car crash in the Parisian suburbs.

If I told them the truth about how long it had taken me to learn, they wouldn’t go anywhere near it.

The running of the operation then passed to the Aga Khan IV, who discussed his approach to breeding when he spoke to Julian Muscat for Owner Breeder in a 2010 article celebrating  50 years at the helm.

“People often ask me whether they should enter the industry,” he said. “If I told them the truth about how long it had taken me to learn, they wouldn’t go anywhere near it.

“Each breeder has his/her own criteria, driven by pedigree but also the economics of the industry.

“That’s where, for example, Marcel Boussac fell into a trap. His economic situation was getting more and more fragile, therefore he bred more and more of his mares to his own stallions.”

Boussac, a textile magnate and entrepreneur, was one of the leading owner-breeders in France who topped the owners’ standings on 14 occasions and was champion breeder 17 times – he also captured the 1950 Derby with Galcador – but in 1978 his business empire collapsed. He was forced to sell all his thoroughbreds, the vast majority, numbering 144 horses, bought by the Aga Khan.

It wasn’t the first time that the Aga Khan had invested in outside bloodlines – he had secured the bloodstock of Francois Dupré the previous year and would later incorporate stock from Brook Holliday (in 1987) and Jean-Luc Lagardére (in 2005) into the Aga Khan Studs fold.

The Aga Khan was crowned leading owner in France for the first time in 1960 – Alec Head and then François Mathet were his original trainers – and went on to claim the title a further 15 times, his final championship arriving in 2022, while he was the leading breeder in France on ten occasions, most recently in 2016.

He was the leading breeder in Britain five times and champion owner twice, enjoying a golden period in the 1980s when his homebreds captured the Derby three times in eight years.

Shergar (left), whose ten-length victory under Walter Swinburn in 1981 remains the biggest winning margin in Derby history, was syndicated for £10 million upon retirement but completed just one season at stud in Ireland before being kidnapped and destroyed. His body has never been found.

The 1986 Derby saw Khalid Abdullah’s 2,000 Guineas victor Dancing Brave sent off a warm favourite, but he was set too much to do by Greville Starkey and the Aga Khan’s Shahrastani, ridden more prominently, took the spoils for the Stoute/Swinburn combination. Derby number three arrived in 1988 courtesy of the Luca Cumani-trained Kahyasi.

The Aga Khan would wait another 12 years for his fourth Derby strike with Sinndar, a relentless galloper trained by John Oxx, who followed up in the Irish equivalent before finishing his career with victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

His final Derby victory came in 2016 with the Dermot Weld-trained Harzand, ridden by the late Pat Smullen, who also guided the son of Sea The Stars to success in the Irish Derby.

The Aga Khan’s French Classic haul stands at 27; he captured the first of eight Prix du Jockey Clubs in 1960 with Charlottesville, later a champion sire in Britain, and followed up with Top Ville (1979), Darshaan (1984), Mouktar (1985), Natroun (1987), Dalakhani (2003), Darsi (2006) and Vadeni (2022).

Blushing Groom, not a homebred but a foal purchase at Tattersalls, was perhaps the best of the Aga Khan’s seven winners of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas). He was subsequently third in The Minstrel’s Derby and became a leading sire in both the US and Britain and Ireland.

The Aga Khan’s record seven winners of the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) featured the names Shemaka (1993), Vereva (1997), Zainta (1998), Daryaba (1999), Zarkava (2008), Sarafina (2010) and Valyra (2012).

Zarkava was an outstanding performer who was unbeaten in seven career starts, also taking the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) – a race her owner won five times in total – and finishing off with victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

At stud she has produced three black-type performers, headed by Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud scorer Zarak, now a mainstay of the Aga Khan Studs stallion roster and one of the most sought-after sires in France.

He stands alongside the nation’s leading stallion Siyouni – the product of a Lagardere-nurtured family – at Haras de Bonneval, while Sea The Stars, bred and raced by the Tsui family, is based at Gilltown Stud in Ireland.

A true friend and an equestrian who loved and understood horses deeply.

The Aga Khan emulated his grandfather (Felicitation, 1934 and Umiddad, 1944) and father (Sheshoon, 1960) in winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, taking the 2m4f prize with Enzeli in 1999.

Other top-class performers for the Aga Khan include such as Champion Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Turf hero Kalanisi, four-time Group 1 winner Sendawar, Alamshar, who defeated Dalakhani in the 2003 Irish Derby before taking the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a race also won by European champion older horse Azamour in 2005, and Daylami, who landed the Poule d’Essai des Poulains for his breeder before transferring to Godolphin, winning six further Group/Grade 1s for the boys in blue.

Godolphin’s founder, Sheikh Mohammed, said: “We offer our condolences to the world’s Ismaili Muslims on the death of the Aga Khan. He was not only a great leader for his people, but a true friend and an equestrian who loved and understood horses deeply.

“Above all, he stood as one of the world’s greatest philanthropists, whose life’s work was dedicated to relieving the hopelessness of poverty and promoting human development, building bridges between communities and working tirelessly in the cause of peace.”

At the time of his death, the Aga Khan had around 160 broodmares and 220 horses in training across France and Ireland.

He had first sent horses to be trained in Britain in 1978, initially with Stoute and Fulke Johnson Houghton. His support ended in the wake of Aliysa’s disqualification from the 1989 Oaks – her post-race urine sample was found to contain traces of a prohibited substance, camphor.

The Aga Khan was unhappy with the UK’s testing procedures and challenged the Jockey Club’s ruling, hiring scientists in North America to investigate, but the decision was confirmed many months later and Aliysa’s Classic win was officially chalked off.

He did have horses based in Britain again, linking up with old ally Stoute, but withdrew after the 2006 season, focusing on his bloodstock interests in France and Ireland.

The association with Oxx, trainer of his top-level winners Manntari, Timarida, Ebadiyla, Edabiya, Sinndar, Enzeli, Alamshar, Azamour, Kastoria and Alandi, came to an end at the conclusion of the 2014 season.

He had his chest stuck out and was enjoying it so much

Oxx, who retired from the training ranks in 2020, told the Racing Post: “A lot of trainers have reason to be grateful to him. He was always a pleasure to deal with and a very understanding owner.

“The Irish Derby with Alamshar is one I always remember with amusement because His Highness was first and second. Dalakhani was favourite and Alamshar beat him, so we won with the second colours and he led him in – he had his chest stuck out and was enjoying it so much.

“He was very intelligent and his life work was all-consuming. Some people think only of racing when they think of the Aga Khan, but his work was a huge enterprise and he did a lot of good.”

In keeping with tradition, the Aga Khan IV was accorded the title ‘His Highness’ by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, 71 years after Queen Victoria had bestowed the honour upon his grandfather as a nine-year-old.

The Aga Khan’s focus on soundness and stamina in his breeding operation not only produced exceptional results on the racecourse but ensured his stock proved immensely popular when offered at auction.

He was a key figure in the creation of sales house Arqana, formed after the merger of bloodstock auctioneers Agence Francaise and Goffs France. He held a majority stake in both Arqana and Goffs.

The Aga Khan was an investor in the modernisation of Chantilly racecourse, which had been threatened with closure in the 1990s, backed the redevelopment of the Curragh, which reopened in 2019 with its main grandstand named The Aga Khan Stand, and instigated the creation of Longchamp’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend together with Louis Romanet, then Director of France Galop.

A noted philanthropist, the Aga Khan Foundation was established in 1967 to tackle poverty around the world and bridge cultural divides.

Daughter Zahra Aga Khan has been actively involved in her family’s bloodstock business since the 1990s and currently leads the management team in charge of running the Aga Khan Studs in Ireland and France.

His eldest son, 53-year-old Rahim Al-Husseini, has been named Aga Khan V and 50th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims.

Sexton Files: Decades of excellence at the Aga Khan Studs

There was always the sense that the Aga Khan viewed himself as more of a custodian towards his bloodstock holdings. It hadn’t been the plan for him to inherit the stock developed by his grandfather HH Aga Khan III. That instead was to be domain of his father Prince Aly Khan, whose flamboyant personality and understanding of the horse went hand in hand with the enjoyment of horse racing. Yet that of course all changed when Aly Khan was killed in a car crash in May 1960, leaving the stock in limbo.

Speaking in the Aga Khan Studs’ centenary film ‘A Game Of Chess With Nature’, the Aga Khan IV talks of that time as a 23-year-old, of having very little understanding of the inside workings of the sport and of the guidance from the people who helped him fast-track his knowledge.

I didn’t expect to be an owner

“Grandpa was very interested in pedigrees and what they could do to develop exceptional racehorses,” he explained. “He knew the pedigrees and he studied them. My father was not a pedigree man at all, he was a field man who was interested in how you developed a yearling to become a two-year-old and how you developed the racing career of the two-year-old to optimise its racing career. So two totally different approaches.”

He went on to say: “I didn’t expect to be an owner. My father died three years after he became the owner so the whole operation was an accident in my life. When I came on board, I was a kid in a school. I was humble, I listened, I didn’t always understand. I found myself working with men and women who were my grandfather’s age and then they had a school kid turn up who hardly knew which end kicked. They were incredibly patient. It was a long learning curve.”

Trainer Francois Mathet, farm managers Major Cyril Hall and Robert Muller and bloodstock advisor Germaine Vuillier were among those whose insight was utilised during those early years. More recently, a tight-knit and long-serving team has been at the helm of the operations in Ireland and France led by Pat Downes and Georges Rimaud. During that time, the ethos has remained the same, primarily the accumulation of knowledge pertaining to the broodmare band. It is that factor which has helped allow the studs to thrive and goes some way to explaining how it has produced several exceptional results with various lesser stallions.

The young Aga Khan came to rapidly understand the business and the intricacies of his grandfather’s bloodlines, many of them built on an initial outlay of 24,250gns by George Lambton on eight yearlings in 1922 that came to include the excellent fillies Cos, Teresina and Mumtaz Mahal as well as the dams of Classic winners Bahram, Theft and Dastur.

The flying grey filly Petite Etoile, a descendant of Mumtaz Mahal whose Classic-winning career coincided with the death of Aly Khan, undoubtedly provided an early awareness into the power of those old lines. However, as time came to pass, the Aga Khan also reinvigorated that stock with the introduction of outside families, notably those belonging to Marcel Boussac, Francois Dupre, Brook Holliday and Jean-Luc Lagardere. In every instance, the rewards were almost immediate and long-lasting. That point was underlined further last year by the stud’s Group 1 performers Ezeliya, Rouhiya and Calandagan, between them the descendants of old Boussac and Lagardere families, and Group 2 heroine Hanaliya, another example of the productivity of the original Holliday line of Hazy Idea. As for the stud’s successful young stallion Zarak, whose 2024 season yielded a first Classic winner in Metropolitan, he descends directly from Mumtaz Mahal via Zahra, the only filly produced by Petite Etoile.

There were 161 mares listed in the Aga Khan Studs Stud Book in 2024, the bulk of them from old Boussac families. Boussac’s horses carried all before them during much of the first half of the 20th century but the stock, plenty of it intensely inbred, became tired in later years and when the Aga Khan purchased it in its entirety during the late 1970s off the bankrupt Boussac, it required its share of culling as well as management.

The lines duly flourished, however. Included in the package was Licata, who was carrying the Arc heroine Akiyda, and Delsy, an Abdos member of the Tourzima family who foaled Darshaan not long afterwards. The Shirley Heights colt led home Sadler’s Wells and Rainbow Quest in a memorable renewal of the 1984 Prix du Jockey Club before becoming a sire of importance at Gilltown Stud in Ireland. Not long after, Delay foaled the Top Ville filly Darara, the Prix Vermeille winner whose line remains very relevant today thanks to Too Darn Hot, a son of her Group 1-winning daughter Dar Re Mi.

The line stemming from Stoyana also yielded the Derby and Arc hero Sinndar while that belonging to Listed winner Denia supplied Daltawa, whose sons Daylami and Dalakhani won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club among 11 Group 1 races between them. Dalakhani, whose star-studded career closed with a victory in the 2003 Arc, later retired to take the place of his sire Darshaan at Gilltown, where a successful stud career included the Classic winners Moonstone and Reliable Man.

Perhaps the greatest gift was Ebaziya. A fusion of two Boussac-influenced horses as a Darshaan descendant of Tourzima, Ebaziya foaled four Group 1 winners over a remarkable range of distances – the top two-year-old Edabiya, Irish Oaks heroine Ebadiyla and the Ascot Gold Cup winners Enzeli and Estimate.

Naturally, the Delsy, Daltawa, Ebaziya and Stoyana lines remain well represented within the operation as does that belonging to other important Boussac lines such as Darazina, the ancestress of Classic heroines Darjina and Daryaba, Eunomia, whose descendant Ervedya won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and is now the dam of young Aga Khan stallion Erevann, and Rilasa, whose line came to the fore again last year through another Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Rouhiya.

Immediate Dupre rewards

The late 1970’s was a period of major expansion. Alongside the Boussac horses, stock belonging to Francois Dupre, a breeder who had enjoyed immense success with Francois Mathet at the same time as the Aga Khan in those formative years, also joined the fold and again with immediate benefits.

Lurking within the package was a yearling Top Ville, who would go on to win the 1979 Prix du Jockey Club, while the mares included Val Divine, then carrying the 1981 Champion Stakes winner Vayrann.

Four years later, Mouktar, out of the Dupre mare Molitva, won the Prix du Jockey Club. It was an early illustration of how various lines were beginning to blend, with Mouktar being a son of the Aga Khan’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Nishapour, a Zeddaan relation to Mumtaz Mahal. Similar was to unfold not long after in the 1987 Jockey Club winner Natroun, a grandson of Val Divine by the Boussac-influenced sire Akarad.

The Dupre stock also played its part in the Aga Khan’s record-breaking seven winners of the Prix de Diane, supplying two of them in Vereva and Sarafina. More recently it also sat behind the 2023 Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Tahiyra.

A smaller group of mares added from Brook Holliday’s Cleaboy Stud in the late 1980s yielded access to the Hazy Idea family and with it the line that would grant the Aga Khan with his 2016 Derby winner Harzand.

The final major ‘lock, stock and barrel’ purchase made during the late Aga Khan’s tenure was that belonging to Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2005. The acquisition added 222 horses, many of them grey horses possessing some kind of association to Lagardere’s lynchpin stallion Linamix, himself also part of the deal. Lagardere was an ‘out of the box’ thinker who single-handedly made Linamix into a French champion sire, often through mares sourced in North America.

The fruits of adding such an operation arrived quickly, notably during Arc weekend in 2009 when the green and red colours struck in five Group 1 races; three of them, Varenar (winner of the Prix de la Foret), Siyouni (Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere) and Rosanara (Prix Marcel Boussac) hailed from Lagardere stock.

The Lagardere horses have continued to play a major role in the stud’s fortunes since then, notably as the source of four Prix Saint-Alary winners in Sagawara, Siyarafina, Vadawina and Vazira as well another Prix de Diane heroine in Valyra, champion stayer Vazirabad and Prix du Jockey Club and Eclipse Stakes winner Vadeni.

The other Group 1 winners from that golden Arc weekend of 2009, Alandi (Prix du Cadran) and Shalanaya (Prix de l’Opera), harked back to a different era as descendants of Mumtaz Mahal. It was a further illustration of the contribution made by that particular family – Shalanaya especially as a representative of the Sharmeen branch also responsible for Shergar.

It’s remarkable to think that those lines sourced over 100 years ago are still playing such a fundamental role. Mumtaz Mahal was part of that first collection of yearlings acquired in 1922 when bought for 9,100gns by George Lambton. Such was her speed, which carried the daughter of The Tetrarch to wins in the Queen Mary, Champagne and Nunthorpe Stakes, that she became a celebrity in her own right during her racing career. However, it’s the immense legacy that she left at stud for which she is now revered. One daughter, Mumtaz Begum, foaled Nasrullah. Another, Mah Mahal, became the third dam of Petite Etoile.

At stud, Petite Etoile produced just three foals and only one filly, Zahra. Despite that slender thread, this branch of the line is today thriving, notably due to Zahra’s great-granddaughter Zarkava, the unbeaten Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Prix de Diane and Arc heroine. The daughter of Zamindar was arguably the Aga Khan’s most important runner and is now becoming a major presence within the breed as the dam of Zarak.

Going back to those early Lambton purchases, 1924 Goodwood Cup winner Teresina (bought for 7,700gns) also became the ancestress of the Aga Khan’s champion miler Sendawar. And therein lies a snapshot of the power of these lines since Sendawar was by far the best son of the nondescript Priolo just as other Group 1 winners such as Alamshar, Daylami and Sarafina were among the best produced by Key Of Luck, Doyoun and Refuse To Bend.

Outside purchases

There was the odd auction purchase, some of them important led by Blushing Groom. Out of a mare, Runaway Bride, bred and sold by the Aga Khan, the Red God colt more than vindicated his 12,000gns foal price by becoming the French champion two-year-old of 1976 and Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner of 1977.

Dumka, the 1974 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner, was added at the end of her Classic campaign at Tattersalls and went on to produce the 2,000 Guineas winner Doyoun while Miss Medley foaled the 1984 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Masarika in the years following her acquisition. The Sinndar filly Four Sins was a rare yearling purchase and went on to win the Blandford Stakes and run fourth in the Oaks; she was later sold to Japan.

Such dips into the market followed that of Aly Khan, whose 770gns purchase of Pale Ale as a 13-year-old mare in 1949 granted the operation access to a line that would later provide Derby winner Shahrastani.

Only 18 months ago, the Aga Khan Studs added three mares from the Niarchos family’s reduction at Goffs. The trio, La Fiamma, Malicieuse and Raja Ampat, represent the Niarchos’ cornerstone families of Pasadoble and Coup De Folie and it will be interesting to see how they complement the existing bloodlines in their new home.

An awareness to capitalise on international bloodlines was also encapsulated by the stud’s partnership with Arrowfield Stud in Australia. That alliance granted access to various leading Australian stallions and in turn yielded multiple Group 1 winner The Autumn Sun, now a leading young stallion for Arrowfield. Similarly, the likes of Deep Impact and Heart’s Cry were utilised in Japan.

You get the sense that everything has long been done with an eye on maintaining the broodmare band to its high standard. Given the nature of the bloodstock cycle, culling is required on an annual basis to keep numbers in check. That can be to the advantage of others though, examples including Sean Coughlan, who picked up Kasora, subsequently the dam of High Chaparral, at Goffs in 1996 and Watership Down Stud, whose foundation mare Darara was purchased for Ir470,000gns in 1994. More recently, Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals bred Big Rock out of his Aga Khan purchase Hardiyna.

Nature always teaches you when you’re wrong

In turn, the stallion rosters have always been of a select nature. Not every good colt was retained – Blushing Groom and Shahrastani both headed to Kentucky, where Blushing Groom became a leading sire, and Alamshar was sold to Japan. Yet for a good proportion of the Aga Khan’s tenure, there was a sire of some significance installed at either Gilltown Stud or Haras de Bonneval, whether it be Darshaan, Kalamoun or the current incumbents Sea The Stars, Siyouni and Zarak.

Today’s roster is in an enviably strong place. Sea The Stars, owned by the Tsui family, and Siyouni are both well established among Europe’s elite and nor is the younger Zarak far behind, with a sixth place on last year’s leading French sires’ list achieved with crops bred off fees of €12,000. As it is, his 12 per cent stakes winners to runners marks him down as one of Europe’s leading lights. Again, there is a snapshot of that melting pot, Siyouni being a rapid reward for the Lagardere investment and Zarak the product of ten generations of breeding from Mumtaz Mahal.

The Aga Khan remarks in the centenary film that he approached the project of maintaining his father’s stable with some trepidation, hopeful that it did not succumb to the danger of ‘going down the drain, slowly but surely’. Over 60 years on and the operation could arguably not be on a stronger footing, its success rooted in the ability of those within it to understand the animal amid the unpredictability of breeding.

“Nature always teaches you when you’re wrong,” he commented in the film. “You’re playing chess with nature. You move this way, nature takes you that way. That’s part of the fun of the activity, the unpredictability. But you try to understand it and work with it.”

Breeders’ Digest: “A great man who left a wonderful legacy”

As the sport mourned the death of HH Aga Khan IV last month, those who worked under him might have taken some solace in the arrival of an important new foal, a filly out of his last Irish Classic winner Tahiyra. There will be expectations attached to the Justify youngster, not just on the track but in her potential role as a conduit of the Tremogia female line that joined the fold with acquisition of the Francois Dupre stock in the late 1970s.

As such, the wheel keeps turning. No one would have been more conscious of that than the Aga Khan himself. Upon the unexpected death of his father Prince Aly Khan in May 1960, he was faced with the decision as to whether maintain the family’s racing stable or wind it down. It had been established four decades before by his grandfather, and with immediate success to the extent that he passed away having amassed no fewer than 13 champion owner titles.

Luckily for racing, the new Aga Khan chose to keep the enterprise going, immersed himself in its intricacies and in return came to preside over one of the sport’s most successful operations.

“When you look back at what His Highness achieved and the good horses he bred, I think it’s quite outstanding,” says Pat Downes, the long-serving manager of the operation’s Irish studs. “He said himself growing up that he had very little exposure to bloodstock, so the activity never really came on his radar. And when his father died, he did take time to think whether he could continue on.

“It’s typical of the man that when he made the decision, he very quickly brought himself up to speed, helped by working with some very good people.”

Downes and Georges Rimaud, who was director of the French division for 25 years prior to his retirement last November, were key members of the loyal and tight-knit team that served the stud during the later decades of the Aga Khan’s tenure. Between them, they have helped oversee the development of Sea The Stars, Siyouni and Zarak into leading sires and the management of a broodmare band whose power has been showcased to great effect over the past three seasons by Classic winners Vadeni, Ezeliya, Rouhiya and Tahiyra.

Every good horse gave him immense pleasure

The benchmark of excellence, however, remains Zarkava, whose unbeaten career with Alain de Royer-Dupre took in wins in the Arc, Prix de Diane, Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Prix Vermeille and Prix Marcel Boussac. And now as the dam of Zarak, she’s starting to become a major presence across the breed as a whole.

“I do think that particular story sums up the Aga Khan operation perfectly,” says Downes. “Zarkava can be traced all the way back to Mumtaz Mahal, purchased by his grandfather HH Aga Khan III, and there was Petite Etoile in between – that really is exactly what we’re about. Every good horse gave him immense pleasure but I’ve no doubt that the Zarkava story gave him a little bit more satisfaction, especially given the fact that it was so strongly linked with what his grandfather started.”

Zarkava is probably best remembered for her bloodless victory in the 2008 Arc but her brilliance and quirks were encapsulated by the Prix Vermeille, in which she gave up several lengths at the start only to cut down her rivals and win going away. Multiple Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi was made to look pedestrian in second. A year before in the Prix Marcel Boussac, she had jumped a shadow just after the post, a sure sign of a horse with enough in reserve to toy with her rivals.

“Zarkava was amazing, an incredible filly,” says Downes. “I still think about seeing her growing and developing at Sheshoon Stud, and wishing I could see what it was about with her – and I absolutely saw nothing other than she was a neat racy filly who was not the most correct.

“She was a bit quirky. She got left in the Prix Vermeille – she really did light a Hamlet cigar that day – and then in the Arc, Christophe Soumillon almost went out the side door because she ducked towards the rail coming out of the stall.

“But my goodness what a talented filly and we’re very fortunate that she’s produced a lot of fillies for us to keep working with. And of course Zarak is now looking like he’s an important stallion. He’s such a beautifully bred horse that you’d hope he would become a strong influence, and that’s what we’re seeing at the moment.”

Similarly Dalakhani is a horse who ranks highly in the stud’s pantheon of greats. Winner of the Prix du Jockey and Arc, he was only beaten once when turned over by fellow Aga Khan colt Alamshar in the Irish Derby.

He loved talking about the different families and loved the navigation of the mating process every year

“Dalakhani came in Darshaan’s last crop and I think that made it particularly special for everyone,” says Downes. “It was a big couple of days for His Highness when he won the Prix du Jockey Club and Arc. We thought he might have gone through his career unbeaten but we managed to beat him with another of ours in the Irish Derby! Alamshar had run a very good race at Epsom [when third in the Derby] and His Highness said beforehand that the Curragh is John Oxx’s local track and the Derby is a very important race. He was not going to say ‘we have another colt for that race’ and not to run.

“The result might still have surprised him but we can all live with surprises like that. Alamshar got a very canny ride from Johnny Murtagh, who knew the Curragh very well, and of course he went on to win the King George. He was a very good colt on his day.”

Dalakhani and Alamshar represented different threads of the operation, Dalakhani being a blend of two Boussac-line horses in Darshaan and Daltawa and Alamshar, the best sired by Key Of Luck, another celebrated member of the Mumtaz Mahal clan. Such fusions of various lines, mainly stemming from the old Aga Khan families and those incorporated through the acquisitions of the Boussac, Dupre, Holliday and Lagardere stock, have long been the bedrock of the stud’s success.

“He really did enjoy it,” says Downes. “He loved talking about the different families and loved the navigation of the mating process every year. We were very fortunate to have him guiding us. He was certainly a great help to myself and Georges, and to Zahra. He had an amazing recall as to the families and where they came from.

“I remember one day that we were stuck with one particular mare on whether to sell her or not. We spent a morning in Aiglemont discussing it, this one mare. We had to go racing and ran out of time, but when we left the races, we went across the road to ‘Le Yearling’ for a coffee with His Highness and we took it up again, this one mare. We certainly can take our time with decisions and I remember we all found it entertaining that this one mare took up a whole day of discussion.

“He said to us, as a guide, to protect the broodmares at all costs. We protect the broodmare band but it’s also a fine line as we can’t let it get too big. Everyone can see that we sell a lot of mares every year and that’s driven by the numbers. It’s quite an aggressive policy and it does lead to the stud sometime selling some females that weren’t the pick when we went through them in rounds one or two. But if we say we must get to a number – we’re pretty comfortably at 160 – then there can be a bit of pain involved in getting to that. Having said that, it’s also a great opportunity for people to get into these families.”

The Aga Khan Studs rose to one of its numerical peaks with the acquisition of the Lagardere horses in 2005. Lagardere had bred numerous good horses in the preceding years, many of them by his own sire Linamix, and the stock has since proven to be just as productive for the Aga Khan, providing him with a French champion sire in Siyouni and Classic winners such as Vadeni, Sarafina and Valyra.

“The Lagardere stock have been tremendous,” says Downes. “We cut out quite a bit quickly from it, which we felt we needed to do, but it’s worked out well.”

He adds: “Siyouni was a little bit of a departure for us in that he wasn’t quite what you’d call a typical Aga Khan horse to retire to stud – he’d obviously won his Group 1 as a two-year-old but hadn’t won at three. We had an interesting discussion with His Highness when we put that one on the table, and to be fair to him, he said ‘let’s give it a go’. And it’s worked out very well for us and for a lot of other people.”

Amid the sadness there is at least the promise that 2025 could well bring more Group 1 rewards. King Edward VII Stakes winner Calandagan, who was recently named the ITBA’S three-year-old male of 2024, remains in training with Francis-Henri Graffard at Aiglemont, which also houses the exciting juvenile filly Zarigana, fittingly a granddaughter of Zarkava, and Longchamp debut winner Azimpour. In Ireland, the Dermot Weld-trained Hazdann created a good impression when winning his maiden at the Curragh last summer and is on course to be tried at a higher level.

“We were all very clear on what His Highness wanted to achieve,” says Downes. “You’ll have days that work and some days that don’t, but we all have a very clear picture of where we want to go with it.

“We were very fortunate to have had some very good days with him, and from a personal point of view, I was extremely fortunate to have had so many years working for him.

“He was a great man and he has left a wonderful legacy.”