PRINCESS ZAHRA AGA KHAN, Aga Khan Studs

Calandagan (Ire), 2021 g. by Gleneagles out of Calayana, by Sinndar

HERE is another nomination for a farm that has been a previous winner of the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Year award, the Aga Khan Studs. Now under the stewardship of Princess Zahra Aga Khan, following her father’s death, this year is proving to be an outstanding one of success for the team.

After Daryz’s Arc victory, high on the list of achievements has been Calandagan’s three Group 1 wins, in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Champion Stakes, both at Ascot. He has been in the money on all 13 of his lifetimes starts, winning seven and finishing second five times. Calandagan was runner-up in his first four starts at Group 1 level, and now has won the other three. He is a model of consistency.

A couple of Group 3 victories in France prefaced his challenge for the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot last year, and there he was hugely impressive, winning by six lengths.

He is by some margin the biggest earner for his sire, and his fifth Group or Grade 1 winner. The Aga Khan Studs have retained Calandagan’s dam Calayana and all but one of her offspring.

Calayana put in her best performance to run second in the Group 3 Prix Minerve at Deauville. She now has three winners with her first three foals, and the good news is that she is in foal to Siyouni.

CON MARNANE

Powerful Glory (Ire), 2022 c. by Cotai Glory out of Wouldntitbelovely, by Kodiac

POWERFUL Glory’s victory in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes, achieved at the expense of 18 smart speedsters, was simply endorsing a family that is all about fast horses, and he is another fine advertisement for the excellence of breeder Con Marnane at Bansha House. He is the second foal of his dam who was picked up for 4,000gns by Marnane. She had a fine back pedigree.

Consigned and sold for Con through his daughter Amy as a foal for 37,000gns to Tally-Ho, Powerful Glory reappeared as a breezer, realising £190,000 to Blandford Bloodstock on behalf of Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum. He was sent to Richard Fahey, and it was that trainer who saddled another Bansha House graduate, Sands Of Mali, to win the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes in 2018. Little did we know history would repeat itself.

At two, Powerful Glory won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury, and now has stepped up to the next level, beating dual Group 1 winner Lazzat in the final strides at Ascot. Now, 2026 beckons with hopes that Powerful Glory will establish himself among the best sprinters around.

This is the family of 14-time winner Maarek, a son of Pivotal. whose biggest success was in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. Another star in the family is Ardad. He won both the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes and the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at two.

SONIA AND ANTHONY ROGERS, Airlie Stud

Consent (Ire), 2022 f. by Lope De Vega out of Flora Danica, by Galileo

AIRLIE Stud sold Flora Danica, the dam of Consent, to Maria Niarchos’ Flaxman Stables Ireland for €420,000 as a yearling. She is now partners in the mare with Airlie and Sonia Rogers. Consent won the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu on Arc weekend. This is a family close to the hearts of Anthony and Sonia, and one that has produced a plethora of Group 1 winners in recent years.

Under the fourth dam, the stakes winner La Meilleure, are Group 1 winners such as Sholokhov, Soldier Of Fortune, and Subjectivist. However, it is the branch that has been established by one of La Meilleure’s 10 winning offspring, Zavaleta, that has been most prolific in recent years. A dual stakes winner, Zavaleta matched her dam’s achievement by breeding 10 winners.

Two of these deserve highlighting. Danelissima, a Group 3 winner at Naas, is grandam of Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi. Meanwhile, four Group 1 winners descend from her full-sister Daneleta, and her best offspring, the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes Intense Focus, went on to become a Group 1 sire. His half-sister Dane Street has three stakes winners headed by Skitter Scatter. She carried the Rogers family silks to victory in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Finally, Skitter Scatter’s Grade 3-placed sibling Data Dependent last year bred Aspen Grove who won the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes.

BARBARA FACCHINO, Barouche Stud

Caballo De Mar (Ire), 2022 c. by Phoenix Of Spain out of Oberyn, by Holy Roman Emperor

THERE was a great moment in October when a promising young sire got his first Group 1 winner in his first crop of three-year-olds. The sire in question is the Irish National Stud’s Phoenix Of Spain, and he got that winner as his own sire Lope De Vega sired his 25th.

The landmark win was delivered by Goffs foal and Tattersalls Ireland yearling graduate, Caballo De Mar, who quickly went from earning his first piece of blacktype a couple of weeks earlier in the Group 3 German St Leger to annexing the Group 1 Prix du Cardan at ParisLongchamp. This was the tough performers’ eighth win.

Barbara Facchino’s Barouche Stud, who bred Caballo De Mar, purchased his listed-placed grandam Daraliya for 57,000gns as a four-year-old, and she did well for the farm, producing eight winners. This is a branch of an Aga Khan family, and while none of Daraliya’s winners were stars, they included a German stakes winner in Circassian and two stakes-placed winners.

Daraliya’s daughter Oberyn won twice for Barbara Facchino at three and only had two foals, both winners. Caballo De Mar, a €21,000 Goffs foal buy by Melchior Bloodstock, and €33,000 Tattersalls Ireland yearling purchase by Billy Jackson-Stops and George Scott, has amassed winnings of €380,000. Oberyn’s other foal was Robayera a winner in Spain as a four-year-old.