Tony Morris: why the Aga Khan was the pre-eminent owner-breeder over six decades

The will of HH Aga Khan III, who died in July 1957, nominated his grandson Karim to succeed him as spiritual leader of the ten million-strong Ismaili community, an enormous responsibility for a young man still five months short of his 21st birthday. 

But at least that heavy burden meant that the fourth Aga Khan need not get involved with the racing and breeding empire which his grandfather had founded and in which his father, Prince Aly Khan, had become a partner. 

Aly would maintain the family’s connection with the Turf, while his son, who professed neither knowledge of, nor interest in, the thoroughbred would concentrate on the duties he had inherited.

The Aga Khan:

• The Aga Khan, one of racing's most influential owner-breeders, dies aged 88 

• The Aga Khan: a spiritual leader to millions and one of horseracing's most distinguished figures 

• From Shergar to Zarkava: six of the best horses owned by the Aga Khan 

That was all well and fine until May 1960, when Aly was killed in a car accident in Paris. Karim, still only 23, was now owner of one of the world’s leading thoroughbred operations, and he had to decide on its future. Should he continue with an enterprise that had been built up over nearly four decades or should he disperse the stock, ending his family’s long and successful involvement in the sport?

It may be that the stock made the decision for him. Within three months of the horses in training starting to run in his name Charlottesville won the Prix du Jockey-Club and Grand Prix de Paris, Sheshoon won the Gold Cup and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Petite Etoile won the Coronation Cup and Venture won the St James’s Palace and Sussex Stakes. At the start of the 1960 season he owned no horses; at its end he was the leading owner in France.

The new Aga had clearly inherited a flourishing enterprise, so logic dictated that he should keep it going. That meant he had to learn quickly about what had been an alien environment, and his first important decision was to have his horses trained exclusively in France, first with Alec Head, who had done so well for his father and grandfather, and, from 1964, with François Mathet. 

It was not until the late 1970s that he began to patronise English stables, and by that time the man who started in the business with little enthusiasm for it was a major player on the world stage, expansionist, fiercely competitive and as shrewd in his dealings over bloodstock as his father and grandfather before him.

The first runner of real note bred by the Aga was Silver Shark, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye as a two-year-old in 1965, and over the next decade his profile as owner and breeder rose gradually, highlights provided by Zeddaan and that horse’s son Kalamoun, both successful in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains among other races. Kalamoun started impressively at stud only to die young, but that setback failed to halt the upward progress of the Aga Khan Studs.

Oddly, the best horse to represent the Aga in the 1970s was one that he did not breed, but was out a mare whom he had bred and sold. That was Blushing Groom, a 16,000gns Tattersalls December foal purchase, an exceptional two-year-old who trained on to win the Poule d’Essai and finish third as favourite for the 1977 Derby. Based in Kentucky, Blushing Groom became a prominent sire of winners on both sides of the Atlantic, heading the British and Irish sires' table in 1989.

In the late 1970s the Aga’s breeding operation expanded significantly. An advertised auction of stock produced by Mme Dupre’s Haras d’Ouilly was cancelled a few days before the scheduled event, as the Aga had purchased the whole band by private contract. He also bought the entire bloodstock holdings of the bankrupt Marcel Boussac, so that his broodmare band, which numbered 75 in 1977, had grown to 164 by 1980.

Boussac had been the leading breeder in France for three decades up to the mid-1950s, and though his stud had been in decline since then it still included many representatives of outstanding families. The Dupre operation also had a long history of success and, as the Aga said at the time, these acquisitions, together with the stock developed by his father and grandfather, meant that he now owned, in effect, the accumulated wisdom of breeders who had competed prominently at the top level for several generations.

The expanded breeding empire allowed the Aga to believe that he should be able to produce high-class performers every year; he could not know which of his mares would make that happen, but with such quality in quantity there was expectation rather than mere hope. The record shows that the last crop he bred that did not include at least one Pattern winner was that of 1974.

Darshaan: Classic-winning racehorse who became a hugely important sire

The Dupre and Boussac acquisitions soon delivered success. One of the yearlings in the Dupre batch was Top Ville, who gave the Aga his first victory in the Prix du Jockey-Club, and one of the mares came with the Champion Stakes winner Vayrann inside her. Among the Boussac mares was Licata, carrying Akiyda, his first winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Delsy, who was to produce Darshaan, another hero of the Prix du Jockey-Club, and one who was to earn major distinction as sire and broodmare sire.

Meanwhile, the families he had inherited were still delivering top-class runners, none more notable than dual Derby and King George victor Shergar, who was a seventh-generation descendant of Mumtaz Mahal, his grandfather’s most important foundation mare.

The ill-fated Shergar remains the most outstanding performer bred by the Aga, though further Derby victories were earned by Shahrastani, Kahyasi, Sinndar and Harzand. The first two in that group traced to old-established Aga Khan families, the third to a source in the Boussac stud, while the last-named had his roots in Brook Holliday’s Cleaboy Stud, which featured in another ‘lock, stock and barrel’ acquisition in the late 1990s.

Harzand’s Epsom triumph in 2016 meant that the Aga’s colours had been carried by five Derby winners, equalling his grandfather’s tally as owner, but the younger man’s quintet (who all doubled their Derby score on the Curragh) gave him the better record as breeder. His famous five were all homebreds, whereas Aga Khan III purchased two of his from other breeders. 

The Aga’s record in the Prix du Jockey-Club, France’s Derby, was equally impressive. After Charlottesville and Top Ville there came six successful homebreds in Darshaan, Mouktar, Natroun, Dalakhani, Darsi and Vadeni. 

And there were four victories in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, courtesy of Akiyda, Sinndar, Dalakhani and the marvellous filly Zarkava, who descended from Mumtaz Mahal through the equally celebrated Petite Etoile. Zarkava was never beaten and won five times in Group 1 company; she went on to produce a top level-winning son in Zarak, who is now making his mark as a sire.

Two fine servants for the Aga Khan - Zarkava and Alain de Royer-DupreCredit: Frank Sorge (racingfotos.com)

Before the 21st century was very old the Aga made another important block purchase, acquiring all the bloodstock left by the late Jean-Luc Lagardere. The families derived from that source soon delivered top-class runners, among them Group 1 performers such as Valyra, Vazirabad and Siyouni. The last-named, based at Haras de Bonneval, is now the leading sire in France, responsible for champions Sottsass and St Mark’s Basilica.

The latest edition of the Aga’s private stud book showed a broodmare band numbering around 160, their produce records indicating a policy of constant experimentation. A wide range of stallions was always employed, though rarely a pure sprinter, and many mares never visited the same horse twice. That was the stud’s ethos over many years, and it paid handsome dividends.

The huge cost of maintaining such a large stud was readily recognised, but at no time did the enterprise represent a mere plaything for a wealthy owner. It was expected to pay for itself, and it did so with the help of regular sales; there was constant turnover of stock, and that was often lucrative, because many relished the opportunity to tap into active families developed in the world’s most successful private breeding operation. 

Dual Derby and dual Breeders’ Cup winner High Chaparral was one of many outstanding performers bred from a mare sold out of the Aga Khan Studs.

Like his grandfather, the Aga patronised stables in France, Britain and Ireland, enjoying especially fruitful long-term relationships with Chantilly-based trainers François Mathet and Alain de Royer-Dupre. 

The Aga Khan with Shergar's trainer Sir Michael Stoute

He had success with trainers such as Fulke Johnson Houghton, Michael Stoute (who had Shergar and Shahrastani) and Luca Cumani (who had Kahyasi), but fell out with all of them in time, and his reputation as a hard man to please was confirmed when he parted company with John Oxx, who had guided Sinndar to glory as a three-year-old and had provided him with another Irish Derby winner in Alamshar.

Aga Khan IV had many business interests around the world, notably in banking and hotels, but to the general public he was known primarily for his involvement in racing. Turf professionals recognised him as the pre-eminent owner-breeder for six decades.

The Aga Khan:

The Aga Khan, one of racing's most influential owner-breeders, dies aged 88 

From Shergar to Zarkava: six of the best horses owned by the Aga Khan