Vadeni (Fr)

  With The Queen in everyone's thoughts on Saturday, her greatest pastime is celebrated at Leopardstown with the G1 Irish Champion S. offering a blend of some of Europe's finest families that she knew and appreciated so well. Chief among them is a pearl from the depths of The Aga Khan's ocean of breeding talent the UK's longest-serving monarch was able to fish from in her later years. It was Astrakhan, a wedding present from the late Aga Khan III, who provided her with her first flat winner at Hurst Park...

Before the sad news broke of The Queen's passing on Thursday, the final fields were drawn for Leopardstown's G1 Irish Champion S. and Doncaster's G1 Cazoo St Leger. There will be seven contenders for the Irish Champion, while if racing continues in Britain on Saturday--a statement is due from the BHA on Friday--there will be nine heading to post for the world's oldest Classic. The Aga Khan's G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Eclipse hero Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) will depart from stall two in the Irish Champion, with...

Jockey Christophe Soumillon has had his twelve-day suspension for careless riding in the G1 Coral-Eclipse S. reduced to eight days following an appeal hearing on Thursday. On board Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}), the pair cut across and impeded the third- and fourth-placed finishers William Buick on Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) for Charlie Appleby and James Doyle on Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) for John and Thady Gosden after the winning post, as Soumillon celebrated. The stewards reviewed the race and subsequently handed out their suspension. Soumillon, speaking via...

Delivered by fate to coincide with the centennial year of The Aga Khan's Studs, the Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) descended on Sandown on Saturday to mark the occasion by providing his owner-breeder with a landmark first G1 Coral-Eclipse S. success. In the kind of tight finale that could comfortably have been predicted given the highly-competitive nature of this year's renewal, the Prix du Jockey Club hero held a fast-diminishing neck margin over the arguably unlucky Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), with the race's other 3-year-old Native Trail (GB)...

In the centennial year of The Aga Khan's Studs, the operation's latest flame Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) could present his owner-breeder with a present of particular value in Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse S. While The Aga Khan has won most of Europe's major middle distance prizes, Sandown's much-coveted contest has so far eluded him with Kalanisi (Ire) coming closest in his epic encounter with Giant's Causeway in the millennium edition. With weight-for-age tipping the balance very much in his favour, Jean-Claude Rouget's first runner at the Esher venue is ideally positioned...

In what is shaping up as if it could be a vintage 2022 season, Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse S. has let nobody down with a high-class turn-out of six in what has historically been termed as the first "Clash of the Generations". The Aga Khan's supplemented Prix du Jockey Club hero Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) was drawn in stall four on Thursday, next to Godolphin's more decorated fellow 3-year-old Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in five, with the race's possible pace angle Alenquer (Fr) (Adlerflug {Ger}) widest in six. Following...

One hundred years on from the late Aga Khan III's initial foray into European racing, the internationally-renowned and respected operation were celebrating a momentous Classic victory as the Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}--Vaderana {Fr}, by Monsun {Ger}) dominated Chantilly's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club. Always travelling easily in the slipstream of the leaders from his favourable inside draw, the May 10 G3 Prix de Guiche winner pounced on the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) with 300 metres remaining and a furlong later...

The 2100-metre G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club has a horse for everyone, from multi-generational blue-blooded homebreds, to a $535,000 OBS breezer and everything in between. Godolphin's Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is aiming for his third Group/Grade 1 victory in a row after wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last autumn and in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains in May.   VADENI (FR), Churchill (Ire)--Vaderana (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) Owner: His Highness The Aga Khan. Breeder: Haras De S A Aga Khan SCEA. Trainer:...

While only Sea the Stars (Ire) has been able to win a 2000 Guineas and Derby in the same year since Nashwan did it in 1989, there have been four colts able to carry their superior miling speed over the 10 1/2-furlong trip of the new "French Derby" at Chantilly and complete the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains-G1 Prix du Jockey Club double. While the purists rave on without end about the fact that the initiative to shave the distance from a mile and a half means that the Qatar-sponsored...

There was drama at the draw for Chantilly's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club on Sunday, with a second draw required after an error in the initial process. Due to the withdrawn Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) being left in the bowl as the balls were selected on Thursday morning, France Galop opted to re-do the draw at 5pm which is sure to spark controversy for those who suffered a twist of fate. With no winner drawn in double figures since New Bay (GB) in 2015, the advantage of a...

His Highness The Aga Khan's Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}), winner of last term's Listed Criterium du Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage, was a class above his rivals in Tuesday's G3 Prix de Guiche and laid down a marker for next month's G1 Prix du Jockey Club with an impressive 2 1/2-length success in the nine-furlong Chantilly feature. The homebred bay had previously opened up with a July 21 debut score at Bordeaux-Le Bouscat and closed his three-race juvenile campaign with a third in this venue's Sept. 29 G3 Prix de Conde....

Tuesday's G3 Prix de Guiche sees a rematch between the Etienne and Gregoire Leenders-trained Mister Saint Paul (Fr) (Dariyan {Fr}) and the Andre Fabre project Dreamflight (GB) (Frankel {GB}) after the pair finished in that order in ParisLongchamp's G3 Prix la Force over this nine-furlong trip Apr. 10. Mister Saint Paul was causing an upset that day, but he was over-priced considering he was just behind Dreamflight and the re-opposing Valmer Magic (Fr) (Gris de Gris {Ire}) in the Listed Prix Omnium II over a mile at Saint-Cloud Mar. 19....