Monday 7 October 2024
Over a busy three days of racing in Paris, the Aga Khan stallions each enjoyed prolific winners, with both SEA THE STARS and SIYOUNI also responsible for Group 1 runners-up.
On Friday at Saint-Cloud, blue-blooded Doha gained her first Stakes victory in the Listed Prix Dahlia. Second to subsequent Group 1 heroine Tamfana in the Gr.3 Atalanta Stakes last time out, the Al Shaqab homebred went one better this time, winning by a length and a half. She is the daughter of two Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victors – SEA THE STARS and Treve.
Later in the card it was the turn of Shakti to gain her first piece of upper-case black type. The ZARAK filly, bred by Renaud Cormier and Rocco Stasi, won the Listed Prix Scaramouche by two lengths to become the 11th Stakes winner of 2024 for her up-and-coming sire.
On Saturday, a juvenile son of SIYOUNI identified himself as a potential star of the future, staying on strongly to win the Critérium d’Automne at ParisLongchamp. Mount Kilimanjaro was bred by Glen Hill Farm and purchased for €420,000 by the Coolmore team at last year’s Arqana October Yearling Sale.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien said: “Our fella will be a lovely middle-distance horse next year, a mile or a mile-and-a-quarter horse. He’d be one for one of the trials in the spring and he’s big, too.
“He’d been working nicely and Ryan [Moore] gave him an uncomplicated ride. We could have a look at one of the Group Ones in Saint-Cloud, but we’ll see.”
The following day, ZARIGANA very nearly became the fourth Group 1 winning two-year-old for SIYOUNI, as she finished second in a photo finish to the Gr.1 Prix Marcel Boussac. The granddaughter of Zarkava – already a Group 3 winner - finished strongly and appeared to win everywhere bar on the line. SIYOUNI was also responsible for the runner-up in this race in 2014, when Ervedya finished second to Found. She went on to win three Group 1 races the following year, and became the dam of Aga Khan stallion EREVANN.
In the Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, SEA THE STARS’ two runners finished second and fourth. Both Wertheimer homebreds, Aventure and Sosie ran with credit and helped propel their sire to second place in the European leading sires table by earnings. In addition, SEA THE STARS was the broodmare sire of Gr.1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Vertical Blue (who hails from the family of VADENI) and Gr.1 Prix de l’Abbaye winner Makarova.
Meanwhile in Australia on Saturday, SEA THE STARS posted two further Stakes winners – Gr.3 Bart Cummings winner Just Fine and Listed Paris Lane Stakes winner Uncle Bryn. In the Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes, Aga Khan Studs graduate Eliyass placed a gallant third on his first try at top level, securing his place in the Melbourne Cup.
