The Aga Khan Studs

A share in Group 1 winner and sire Zarak (Fr) has been sold privately for €600,000 to Chauvigny Global Equine, Arqana announced on Wednesday. Originally passed in at €650,000 during Tuesday's Arqana Online November Sale, the 1/50th share (lot 1) has now been purchased by Sebastien Desmontils's operation. Based at the Aga Khan Studs' Haras de Bonneval, the son of Dubawi (Ire) and Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar) has sired a total of 28 stakes winners, 19 of them at group level or higher. In 2024 alone, the bay had 19 stakes...

Georges Rimaud, the director of the Aga Khan Studs in France for a quarter-century, will retire at the end of 2024. He will be succeeded by Pierre Gasnier, who has assisted Rimaud for the past two years. Trained at the Irish National Stud in 1980, Rimaud worked at Spendthrift Farm and later managed Hurricane Hall--both in Kentucky--and also managed Virginia's Audley Farm. Named manager of Haras d'Etreham in 1991, he joined the Aga Khan Studs in June of 2000. Since then, horses carrying His Highness The Aga Khan's distinctive silks...

Francis-Henri Graffard trainee Azimpour (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}--Azmiyna {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}), a half-brother to multiple Group 1-winning sire The Autumn Sun (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), sidestepped an engagement at Saint-Cloud earlier in the month and made no mistake in his debut proper with a 3/4-of-a-length tally in Sunday's €50,000 Prix de Belleville over nine furlongs at ParisLongchamp. 1st-ParisLongchamp, €50,000, Mdn, 10-20, unraced 2yo, c/g, 9fT, 2:04.32, hy. AZIMPOUR (IRE) (c, 2, Dubawi {Ire}--Azmiyna {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) was within range of the leaders racing at the tail of the seven-runner...

Both multiple Group 1 winner Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) and Group 2 winner Erevann (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) will be on show at The Aga Khan Studs' Haras de Bonneval during the upcoming Arqana Breeding Stock Sale from Thursday, Dec. 7 to Monday, Dec. 11 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. A shuttle service will be available from Arqana to the stud running at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day. To book your visit, please see the Aga Khan Studs team in Yard P at Arqana or, alternatively, contact Fanny...

Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar), the Aga Khan's unbeaten 2008 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner and the dam of last year's champion French first-season sire Zarak (Fr), will be covered by another Aga Khan superstar, Siyouni (Fr), in 2022. Zarkava has already produced the listed-winning filly Zaykava (Fr) from a mating with Siyouni, and she has a yearling colt by the French champion sire. Zarkava's listed-winning and Group 1-placed daughter Zarkamiya (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) is currently in foal to Siyouni. Siyouni stands for a second consecutive season for €140,000 at...

Our concluding part of the series reflecting on one hundred years of the Aga Khan Studs begins in the 1980s with the rise of the legendary Shergar and incorporates some of the most celebrated horses of the modern era, as well as a special anniversary for HH the Aga Khan IV. The text is reproduced by kind permission from the Aga Khan Studs' centenary brochure, written by Emma Berry and John Berry.   Shergar's birth came in the year that HH the Aga Khan IV decided to renew his family...

Breeders' Cup champion Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal), who was retired in November, will visit Frankel (GB) for her first beau, Pat Downes, the Manager of The Aga Khan Studs in Ireland, announced on the Nick Luck Daily podcast. Bred and raced by His Highness The Aga Khan, the chestnut scored three times at the highest level in 2020, in the Prix Vermeille, Prix de l'Opera and Breeders' Cup Turf. She was second in the 2021 G1 Irish Champion S. to Cartier Horse of the Year St. Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr})...

One hundred years after the Aga Khan III made his first purchase at the Tattersalls July Sale, the bloodstock empire he built, and which has been carefully cultivated by his grandson, HH the Aga Khan IV, continues to thrive. Following Tuesday's first instalment of the early years of the Aga Khan Studs, the second part sees the baton pass in sad circumstances, heralding a major restructuring of the operation. The text is reproduced by kind permission from the Aga Khan Studs' centenary brochure, written by Emma Berry and John Berry.  ...

One hundred years after the Aga Khan III made his first purchase at the Tattersalls July Sale, the bloodstock empire he built, and which has been carefully cultivated by his grandson, HH the Aga Khan IV, continues to thrive. Over the next three days we look back over the history of one of the most influential owner/breeder operations in the history of the Thoroughbred, with edited highlights from the Aga Khan Studs' centenary brochure, written by Emma Berry and John Berry.   They say that the future belongs to those...

When Aga Khan homebred Zarak (Fr) retired to stud at Haras de Bonneval in 2018, he boasted exemplary credentials: by the sire-making Dubawi (Ire), Zarak was a Group 1 winner out of the Aga Khan's great champion mare Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar). Zarak did his best running at four when he won the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud over 2400 metres for trainer Alain de Royer Dupre, and therefore his first 2-year-olds in 2021 could have been somewhat forgiven should they have required time. They, however, most certainly did not. Zarak...

Irish-based Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and French-based Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) will jointly lead their respective rosters in 2022 for The Aga Khan Studs. One of two stallions standing at Gilltown Stud, Sea The Stars will command €150,000. His unbeaten miler Baaeed (GB) and the progressive filly Teona (Ire) both scored at the highest level in 2021, bringing their sire's total Group 1 winners to 16. Overall, the bay has sired 22 black-type winners this term and he was the sire of the top-priced filly and top-priced...

Following the retirement of Alain de Royer-Dupre at the end of 2021, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard will take over the training of the horses based at His Highness The Aga Khan's private training centre at Aiglemont. Situated in Gouvieux, Aiglemont is currently home to 80-90 Aga Khan-bred horses. Past champions bearing the green with red epaulettes trained at Aiglemont include Zarkava (Ire), Dalakhani (Ire) and Siyouni (Fr). Graffard, a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start, spent four years at the Darley Racing Office before becoming an assistant to Alain de Royer-Dupre....