Monday 2 January 2012
Aga Khan Studs graduates were omnipresent in the run-up to the festive period, and the latest to shine in the National Hunt discipline are ZAYNAR and ZAIDPOUR, both sons of Prix de Diane heroine Zainta (Kahyasi).
The former is no stranger to top-level success during his second career over jumps as he lifted the Gr 1 Triumph Hurdle at the 2009 Cheltenham Festival, as well as a pair of Gr 2 hurdle contests. Third in the Gr 1 Champion Hurdle the following year, the son of Daylami was switched to steeple chasing in autumn of 2011. The grey has adapted well to this new challenge and put up a bold jumping display to win the Gr 2 Noel Novices’ Chase at Ascot in December by a facile nine lengths.
ZAYNAR’s year-younger half-brother ZAIDPOUR (Red Ransom) won one race at Longchamp before joining Willie Mullins in Ireland and he has also made a smooth transition to jumping. ZAIDPOUR won the Gr 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle in December 2010 and made an impressive start to his campaign in the open ranks with two wins in November and December 2011, including a ten-length domination of the Gr 2 Tara Hurdle at Navan.
Further afield in Asia, the Aga Khan Studs-bred Majestic Falcon (formerly named Keredari) won his first race in Hong Kong when picking up the valuable Frankfurt Handicap at Sha Tin on the Cathay Pacific International Races card. The son of Oasis Dream could now progress into Stakes company and he has already proven his class at this level in Ireland for former trainer John Oxx, for whom he was a Listed winner, dual Group placed and sixth in the Gr 1 Irish 2000 Guineas. Majestic Falcon is out of winning mare Kerataka (Doyoun) who was sold in foal to Invincible Spirit for 110,000 Euros in the year of Majestic Falcon’s birth. Kerataka gave birth in India to the Invincible Spirit filly named Botswana, and she recently finished runner-up, beaten less than a length, in the Indian 1000 Guineas at Mumbai.
Updated on 02/01/2011.
