I AM reluctant to use the well-worn phrase that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ as it is not entirely accurate in this case, but I am guilty sometimes myself of just being accepting of the fact that another Aga Khan bred horse has become a stakes or group winner.

After the High Chaparral colt Karaktar bounced back from a training setback to land his second Group 3 win of 2015, I asked the Aga Khan Studs for a list of their stakes winners this year. The list is impressive by whatever standards you measure it. Fourteen individual stakes winners in 2015 include two at Group 1 level, one at Group 2, seven at Group 3 and four at listed status. Furthermore, the tally does not include the Grade 1 runner-up Canndal who holds an interesting entry in the upcoming Arqana Arc Sale.