Rilasa

Family 9e

1975 c. f. St Paddy - Sarila (Snob)

Barely does a season pass when the influence of the Marcel Boussac stock doesn’t play some sort of role within the fortune of the Aga Khan operation. In 2024 that much was again evident in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Rouhiya, a direct descendant of Boussac’s Classic producer Astana via Rilasa.

By Derby winner St Paddy and out of Sarila, a Listed-placed half-sister to fellow foundation mare Denia, Rilasa was a winner at two and ran third in the 1978 Prix Vanteaux. Her lasting gift to the Aga Khan at stud was as the dam of the 1993 Royal Whip Stakes winner Rayseka, a talented stayer for John Oxx who also ran second to Vintage Crop in the Irish St Leger. It is her branch of the family that provided the Classic-placed colt Rayeni and then Rouhiya.

Meanwhile, another branch, that belonging to Rilasa’s Listed-winning daughter Riyda, is responsible for the Aga Khan’s 2012 Prix de l’Opera winner Ridasiyna.

This family has also fared well in outside hands, notably as the source of Kinnaird, fittingly a winner of the Prix Marcel Boussac, and five-time Group 1 scorer Laurens.

As an aside, Rose Ness wasn’t the only daughter of Astana to flourish under the Aga Khan’s management. The winning Valdavia, by Ribot, also followed suit as source of the line responsible for champion Behera and her Group 1-winning grandson Bekhabad.