Daryz

2022 b. h. Sea The Stars - Daryakana

Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard

Daryz is the product of two star performers – champion racehorse and leading sire Sea The Stars and Group 1 winner and producer Daryakana, who is the dam of six Stakes winners in total.

The all-bay colt ran up a succession of victories at three, winning his maiden on debut at ParisLongchamp in April and following up the following month in a Class 2 contest at the same track.

Stepped up to Stakes company for the first time, Daryz scored a four-and-a-half-length win in the Listed Prix Ridgway, prompting jockey Mikel Barzalona to name him one of the best three-year-olds at Aiglemont. Three weeks later, he won his fourth consecutive race with victory in the Gr.2 Prix Eugene Adam.

After finishing sixth in the Gr.1 International Stakes, and an incredibly close second in the Gr.3 Prix du Prince d’Orange, Daryz headed to the Arc for his date with destiny, on his first try over 12 furlongs.

On a day full of emotion, with a rainbow in the Paris skies behind him, Daryz pulled over five lengths clear of the field alongside dual Classic heroine Minnie Hauk and prevailed to win by a head – following in the footsteps of his sire Sea The Stars, winner of the race in 2009.

"As a breeder, and as part of a legacy that stretches back more than a century, winning this race is the pinnacle of what one can achieve," said Princess Zahra Khan after the win – an historic eighth success in this prestigious race for the Aga Khan family. "I hope my father saw it. He was always so happy when he won the Arc. Now, I know that feeling too.”

“He has that dazzling turn of foot and we always thought that if we ever had a colt good enough for the Arc, it would be him,” confirmed trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, while winning jockey Mickael Barzalona added, “I was quite confident in the final straight. I saw that Minnie Hauk had made quite a significant acceleration and [Daryz] immediately reacted behind her in her slipstream and he showed tremendous fighting spirit."

Daryz finished 2025 in co seventh place in the World’s Best Racehorse rankings alongside Romantic Warrior and Sierra Leone, and was the highest-rated European three-year-old.

In April 2026, Daryz made a sensational return to ParisLongchamp, showcasing his terrific turn of foot to win the Gr.1 Prix Ganay by three-and-a-half lengths. 

“That was a super first run of the year,” said jockey Mickael Barzalona. “He’d been working very well at home and looked in magnificent condition today. He was very relaxed even though they didn’t go fast and he really picked up strongly, so much so that it was all over well before the line. 

“On what he’s done there he showed he’s still a real force and in terms of distance he looks very versatile.”

Princess Zahra Aga Khan was delighted with Daryz’s comeback. She said: “It’s a difficult feeling to describe but once he took that stride that took him out of the pack, all worries were lifted and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, this is a very good horse’.”

For his next race, Daryz dropped even further down in trip to contest the Prix Aga Khan IV (Prix d’Ispahan). Once again, he showed a great turn of foot to pull clear of the field, winning by three-and-a-half lengths. In doing so, he became only the second Arc winner to subsequently win a Group 1 race over nine furlongs, and the only horse ever to win the Arc at three and then the Prix Ganay and Prix d’Ispahan at four.

Daryz next headed to Royal Ascot and the Gr.1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, where he finished an admirable third to Ombudsman – with subsequent testing revealing him to have been suffering from an infection. After a short break, Daryz returned in style in the Gr.2 Prix Foy, which he won easily as a stepping stone for the defence of his Arc crown.

Daryz lined up in Paris seeking to achieve a feat not accomplished by a male horse since Alleged in 1978: back-to-back Arc victories. Breaking from stall five, Daryz raced three-wide at the rear of the field. Switched out at the entrance to the home straight by jockey Mickaël Barzalona, the colt unleashed his trademark speed, breezing into the lead and winning with even greater authority than last year.

This second Arc triumph was a record ninth win in this race for the Aga Khan family. Daryz became only the fifth male horse to win two consecutive Arcs, joining Ksar (1921-1922), Tantième (1950-1951), Ribot (1955-1956) and Alleged (1977-1978). As stallions, all of these champions went on to become leading sires and left a lasting mark on the history of thoroughbred breeding.