Hong Kong Group winner Stellar Express lives up to illustrious Aga Khan breeding

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The Aga Khan Studs team started the new year the way it left 2025 when supplying a Group winner in the form of emphatic Bauhinia Sprint Trophy scorer Stellar Express.

Last year began with sadness for the operation with the death of His Highness the Aga Khan IV but it concluded with eight Group 1 victories in the iconic green and red silks, including Daryz's Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory and Zarigana's controversial win in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. 

The brilliant Calandagan also flew the flag with wins in the Japan Cup, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Champion Stakes and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Those triumphs made the 2025 campaign the most successful for the Aga Khan Studs since 2005. 

Originally named Dariym, Stellar Express was first trained in France by Francis Graffard for Princess Zahra Aga Khan, for whom he landed wins at Longchamp, Chantilly and Deauville in 2023. He switched to John Size's yard in Hong Kong in early 2024 and has since notched a further four victories, his latest one the first at Group level. 

Winning rider Andrea Atzeni said of the gelding's performance: "He was carrying a light weight and it was all about the start. Once he pinged the gates and linked up with the horses on my outside, I knew I could get to the rail and once I managed to get to the fence, he travelled comfortably.

"I tried to hang on to him for as long as I could and when I let him down, he picked up good. When I looked up at the [big] screen, I couldn’t believe how far clear I was. I thought it was a good performance."

Hong Kong Group winner Stellar Express hails from the family of the brilliant DarjinaCredit: Edward Whitaker

The six-year-old is out of the winning Shamardal mare Darinja, a daughter of an Invincible Spirit half-sister to Darjina. That Zamindar mare landed Group 1 victories in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Prix d'Astarte and Prix du Moulin in 2007 for Alain de Royer-Dupre. She also placed in the Hong Kong Mile that campaign and then in six further Group 1s the following season. 

Stellar Express's page also traces back to Darkova, the dam of 2016 European champion colt and Classic-winning sire Almanzor. 

Now based at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, the stallion was responsible for Prix de Diane and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Gezora in 2025, while he also sired Saturday's Group 1 Telegraph scorer First Five at Trentham in New Zealand. His Group 1 haul also includes Sydney Cup scorer Circle Of Fire, bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II, as well as Victoria Derby winner Manzoice.

In landing the Group 3 contest, Stellar Express became the 75th individual stakes winner and 11th bred in the northern hemisphere for Widden Stud's reigning champion sire Zoustar. The son of Northern Meteor's roll of honour is headed by 11 top-level scorers including Australian champions Sunlight, Joliestar, Zougotcha and Schwarz. 

His stakes winners conceived during his stint shuttling to David Redvers' Tweenhills Farm in Gloucestershire are led by Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Lezoo, Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint victor Starlust and Shoemaker Mile Stakes hero King Of Gosford.

Zoustar stood the 2025 Australian breeding season for a fee of A$275,000 (approximately £204,000) and covered 162 mares. 

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