Aga Khan Plays The Generation Game To Perfection

To win any race, big or small, owners, trainers and breeders need everything to fall into place for the few minutes that matter most.

When the horse in question has been produced by one of the foremost breeding operations in the world, taking a bow in the Derby at Epsom, in which the victor turns from mere colt to stallion prospect with every reaching stride of the final furlong, those few minutes are the culmination of decades of planning.

“In this activity, what we try to do is not just to get into this position but to stay in this position,” said His Highness The Aga Khan, winning owner/breeder of Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who was celebrating his fifth triumph in Epsom's blue riband 35 years after Shergar (GB) had blazed a trail with his jaw-droppping ten-length win.

He continued, “It's an effort that starts before the horse is actually bred. You're looking at the matings, then you breed, you raise, you race. Harzand is from a family that has been with me for ten generations.”

The Aga Khan's five Derby winners have been trained by four different trainers, with Sir Michael Stoute being responsible for Shergar (1981) and Shahrastani (Ire) (1986), while Luca Cumani trained the 1988 winner Kahyasi (GB), and John Oxx––who trained both sire and dam of Harzand––handled the career of Sinndar (Ire) (2000).

“Winning the Derby is the goal of any owner and has been for centuries. That great a race with that great a history––it's outstanding,” said the Aga Khan, a mere stripling at the age of 80 when compared to Her Majesty The Queen, another high-profile owner/breeder who handed him his prize and is a standing dish at Epsom on Derby day.

He added, “I want to thank all my team for the work they do in Ireland and France. This is a team effort and it has been going on for three generations in my family.”

Following fairly high-profile splits between owner and trainers, Cumani and Oxx are no longer members of that team, and for the man charged with honing the fledgling talent of Harzand, the Derby was one glaring omission on an otherwise glittering curriculum vitae. Dermot Weld has become famed for his pioneering pursuit of the world's big races, with his international tally including the 1990 Belmont S. with Go And Go (GB) (Be My Guest) and two Melbourne Cups courtesy of Vintage Crop (GB) (Rousillon) and Media Puzzle (Theatrical {Ire}), while he snared his first Classic at Epsom in the Oaks with Blue Wind (GB) (Lord Gayle) the same year that Shergar won the Derby. Adding his own Derby to that list will have been hugely satisfying.

He said, “It's very special. I've trained 23 Classic winners in Europe, including a few Irish Derby winners. I've always wanted to win an Epsom Derby but I've possibly never had a horse good enough.”

Despite Harzand starting to demonstrate to the trainer in the last few weeks that he could indeed be the one, Weld felt his chances slipping through his fingers when the colt stood on himself in the lorry in transit from Ireland, tearing a racing plate from his hoof which subsequently bled.

“It's been pretty chaotic and he was pretty unlikely to run,” admitted Weld. “He was very sore and my excellent staff treated him the old-fashioned way with a poultice. When I saw him this morning he was still sore so we iced the foot for four hours.”

He continued, “My farrier Jim Riley is a gifted man and he was able to tack the plate back on very delicately with the track veterinarian watching the whole way through. The horse had to pass three tests: at 2pm we walked him out of his box and jogged him twice. He was perfectly sound and we rang His Highness, who was set to leave at 2.20pm, to say to come.

“We then saddled him and jogged him again. The track vet was happy but we had to be sure. You don't take any risks with the Derby. The final test was Pat [Smullen]'s call when he got him to the start, but he was happy and here we are.”

For jockey Pat Smullen this was also a Derby first. The 39-year-old brother-in-law of Aidan O'Brien was originally pencilled in to partner Juddmonte's Midterm (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), but switched to ride for “the boss” following that horse's disappointing run in the Dante S. Smullen, too, must have thought his luck was truly out during the dramatic events of the morning, but once he took to the track, things started to go his way.

“It was one of those races when everything went according to plan, which doesn't happen very often,” he said. “I could sense Ryan [Moore] coming and I spotted the white face of US Army Ranger, but this horse responded for me and I knew that he would get to the line well.”

Smullen added, “It's amazing, this game. When I got on Midterm, I thought that he was going to be my Epsom Derby horse but this horse has improved out of all knowledge. The ease in the ground came at the right time and I am absolutely delighted.”

With prize-money of £1,545,000, the 2016 Investec Derby was the richest race ever run in Britain and this year's renewal was also one of the most open contests of recent seasons. The curmudgeons who love to knock the 3-year-old middle-distance division have been denigrating the quality of this year's race for weeks and Dermot Weld is perhaps more entitled than most to defend his winner first and foremost, along with Harzand's contemporaries.

“He worked very well the other day at the Curragh and is beginning to show a bit more pace,” explained the trainer. “He's a late-maturing horse and we often say that the staying horses aren't as good as we'd hoped for, but it's nature that that the 3-year-olds start coming out around this time. They're improving and they keep improving.”

Weld will be hoping that Harzand's improvement continues long beyond his next likely start in the Irish Derby, as will the team at the Aga Khan's Gilltown Stud where his Derby-winning sire Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) stands. Harzand is a member of his third crop and was one of three runners for his sire in the 16-strong Derby field. He follows the 2014 Oaks winner Taghrooda (Ire) onto Sea The Stars's list of British Classic winners, while Sea The Moon (Ger) won the 2014 G1 Deutsches Derby.

Harzand's victory also further emphasises the extraordinary influence of Urban Sea upon the Epsom Classics, with her other Derby-winning son, Galileo (Ire), providing the second and third home in US Army Ranger (Ire) and Idaho (Ire), not to mention Friday's outstanding Oaks winner Minding (Ire).