WHAT a privilege to spend some time on Monday evening enjoying the Irish sunshine in company with Alain and Giselle de Royer-Dupré. This most modest of men has a roll of honour that few have bettered, and he saddled Group/Grade 1 winners in eight countries, and on three continents.

Alain won two Irish Oaks, the Melbourne Cup on the only occasion I visited Australia, and saw the majority of his big race winners carrying the Aga Khan silks. Having saddled El Morucho to win a chase at Nantes, his first winner, he began training horses for the late Aga Khan IV before taking over at Aiglemont in 1981 after the death of Francois Mathet. He won all the French classics at least twice, and his list of big race winners is outstanding. Among his best horses was a daughter of Zamindar (Gone West) named Zarkava.

Champion filly at two and three in Europe in 2007 and 2008, Zarkava was the unbeaten winner of seven races, including a second Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for Alain. She won five Group 1 races, among them the Prix Marcel Boussac at two, and the classic double of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas and Prix Diane-French Oaks the following year. Her three-year-old season coincided with her trainer becoming champion for the first time.

The Zarkava story continues right up to the minute. Her son Zarak (Dubawi) also joined de Royer-Dupré for his racing career, winning the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and running second to Almanzor in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby. A trio of Zarkava’s winners won stakes races, all for the same trainer, and the two fillies among them are now distinguishing themselves, while an unraced daughter of Zarkava is making a mark too.

A listed winner and placed in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, Zarkamiya (Frankel) is the dam of last year’s Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas heroine Zarigana (Siyouni). I will mention the unraced filly from Zarkava here, as Zerkaza (Dalakhani) bred a Group 3 winner in Australia, but is grandam of last year’s Group 1 National Stakes winner Zavateri (Without Parole).

Perfect start

Back now to the other stakes winner out of Zarkava. Unraced at two, Zaykava (Siyouni) won twice at Compiegne, on the second occasion landing the Listed Prix Charles Laffitte. She has made a perfect start at stud, her first two foals being stakes winners, and they won listed races last week within four days of each other.

The older of the pair, both trained by Francis Graffard, is the four-year-old colt Zaydann (Dubawi). Placed on his first two starts last year, he ran up a sequence of three wins, culminating with a listed win in Deauville. He extended his winning streak to four recently with victory in a listed contest, and will surely now step up to group company. A similar path may be followed by his three-year-old half-sister Zayida (Frankel) who gained her biggest win to date in the Listed Prix Finlande at Chantilly.

The Prix Finlande was won by the same team last year with Cankoura who remains in training. She stepped up to win a Group 3, and was third, a length off the winner, in the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks.

Pat Downes

I was chatting this week with Pat Downes about the outstanding year being enjoyed by the Aga Khan Studs, which he described as “unbelievable”.

At the end of May 2025, in what was a sad time after the death of Aga Khan IV, runners owned and bred by His Highness and heirs had won two Group 1 races, and a total of seven blacktype contests. For the very same period this year, they have four Group 1 wins (Calandagan, Daryz twice and Rayif), and 14 blacktype races. Truly amazing.

How appropriate it was that in the recent run of four stakes wins in a week, Daryz should add the renamed Prix Aga Khan IV (formerly the Prix d’Ispahan) to his win in the Group 1 Prix Ganay, and last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Such versatility, stepping back from winning over 12 furlongs, to 10 and a half and now to nine, all at the highest level, makes him a most attractive potential stallion.

Sea The Stars

Daryz has been well covered in previous editions of this column, and all that needs to be added here is that he is a jewel in the crown of Gilltown Stud’s Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), one of his 24 Group 1 winners, and this latest victory was the 47th Group/Grade 1 win for the stallion. He must be long odds on to hit 50 this season. Sea The Stars is just four away from having his 150th stakes winner on the flat.

A final word on this stupendous run of success for the Aga Khan Studs goes to the weekend’s Group 3 Prix Hocquart winner Varandir. He is by the Haras de Bonneval sire Zarak, already mentioned above, and remains unbeaten in three starts this year. Unraced until last month, Francis Graffard has turned him out to win three races in seven weeks, and two years ago Calandagan gained his third win in the Hocquart. Just saying!

Varandir, the 25th group winner for Zarak, can only get better. He is the first foal out of Varkesha (Pivotal), unraced at two, placed at three, and a listed winner of three races at four. Oh, and she was trained by Alain de Royer-Dupré.