The Aga Khan III | Horse Racing Free Tips

A Century of Excellence, Part II

One hundred years after the Aga Khan III made his first purchase at the Tattersalls July Sale, the bloodstock empire he built, and which has been carefully cultivated by his grandson, HH the Aga Khan IV, continues to thrive. Following Tuesday's first instalment of the early years of the Aga Khan Studs, the second part sees the baton pass in sad circumstances, heralding a major restructuring of the operation. The text is reproduced by kind permission from the Aga Khan Studs' centenary brochure, written by Emma Berry and John Berry.

The 1950s ushered in Marcus Marsh's tenure as trainer to the Aga Khan III at Fitzroy House in Newmarket, succeeding the ailing Frank Butters. Across town, Harry Wragg, who had set up at Abington Place in 1948, had charge of the horses raced by the Begum Aga Khan, including the 1951 Irish Derby winner Fraise Du Bois, and the 1951 Queen Anne Stakes winner Neron.

Marsh's tenure got off to the best possible start when Palestine won the 2,000 Guineas in the spring of 1950, followed by the St. James's Palace and Sussex Stakes before being retired to stand at Gilltown Stud.

Two years later, Marsh produced an even greater result when Tulyar enjoyed a magnificent campaign, most notably providing his owner with his fifth and final Derby victory. He raced seven times in 1952 for seven wins, his Derby triumph being followed by success in the Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and the St Leger. By the end of the year, Tulyar had set two notable financial records. His earnings of £76,577 set a new record for a British-trained horse, and he was sold to the Irish National Stud for £250,000, a new world record price for a thoroughbred.

Tulyar had not been the stable's best juvenile of 1951. That honour fell to the fast filly Tayeh. Her dam Rivaz, a full-sister to Nasrullah, had been a brilliant juvenile in 1945, taking the Queen Mary Stakes and July Stakes. Rivaz became an excellent broodmare, producing six winners from her first seven foals. Tayeh, by Tehran, was very much her mother's daughter, her victory in the Molecomb Stakes enabling her to her to emulate the 1923 victory of her great grand-dam Mumtaz Mahal.

Although the Aga Khan III continued to have horses with Marcus Marsh after the latter's three-year contract had expired, he appointed Noel Murless as his principal British trainer in advance of the 1953 season. He also greatly increased the number of horses which he had in training in France, principally with Alec Head.

The promise of a sizeable intake of horses from the Aga Khan Studs had prompted Murless to leave Beckhampton and buy Warren Place in Newmarket. While still at Beckhampton he had trained Sir Reginald Macdonald-Buchanan's brilliant sprinter Abernant, the brilliant grey whose dam Rustom Mahal (a daughter of Rustom Pasha and Mumtaz Mahal) had been bought by Lady Macdonald Buchanan when the Aga Khan III had sent her to the sales in France. Abernant, widely regarded as the best British sprinter of the 20^th century, was at least as brilliant as his grand-dam had been, and his many triumphs had ensured that the Aga Khan III and Prince Aly became very aware of Murless's skills.

Four years after Tayeh's Molecomb Stakes triumph, Rivaz produced the winner of the race again in Palariva. Trained by Alec Head, Palariva did much of her racing in England where her other victories included the King's Stand Stakes at Ascot and the King George Stakes at Goodwood. She subsequently played a vital role in the success of the Aga Khan Studs by becoming the grand-dam of one of the first top-class horses bred and raced by HH the Aga Khan IV, Kalamoun.

A Shared Passion

Rose Royale enjoyed a terrific season in 1957 when she landed the 1,000 Guineas, Prix du Moulin and Champion Stakes. Sadly, her Classic triumph and her victory on the Rowley Mile in the autumn came under different ownership registrations. The Aga Khan III passed away in June that year, meaning that she subsequently raced for Prince Aly Khan, a wonderful judge of a horse and a splendid sportsman who had been playing an ever more important role in the family's operation.

He and his father had shared a passion for the thoroughbred and Prince Aly's enthusiasm and acumen ensured that the world-leading bloodstock operation which his father had built up over nearly four decades was in safe hands.

Tragically, Prince Aly survived his father by only three years. During that agonisingly brief period, Prince Aly enjoyed the thrill of racing one of the most special horses ever produced by the Aga Khan Studs: Petite Etoile, who was by Petition out of Star Of Iran, by Bois Roussel out of May Iran, by Bahram out of Mah Mahal, by Gainsborough out of Mumtaz Mahal.

Petite Etoile's career remains legendary. Racing for four seasons, she ran 19 times for 14 wins and five seconds. She was clearly good from the outset, but not the absolute superstar which she subsequently became. She was beaten eight lengths in a two-horse race at Manchester on debut as a two-year-old and she failed to maintain a family tradition when only second in the Molecomb Stakes. She started her three-year-old season as a 'second string', winning the Free Handicap on her resumption.

Petite Etoile's three-year-old career is astounding to modern eyes, comprising an interrupted run of victories in the Free Handicap over seven furlongs, the 1,000 Guineas over a mile, the Oaks over 12 furlongs, the Sussex Stakes over a mile, the Yorkshire Oaks over 12 furlongs, and the Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs. All the while, her public following was growing, her popularity boosted by the story of her reported preference to exercise on Newmarket Heath only with other grey horses and by the charisma of her owner.

Petite Etoile's splendid three-year-old campaign was the centrepiece of a true annus mirabilis for Prince Aly Khan, so much so that the Bloodstock Breeders' Review dubbed it 'Aly Khan's Year'. In Britain he became the first owner to accrue seasonal winnings in excess of £100,000. Across the Channel his horses with Alec Head were in similarly rich form. Saint Crespin won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe; Chief won the Prix Ganay, and Ginetta, a daughter of Tulyar, gave him his second successive Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victory, following that of Yia the previous year. Along with Taboun's 2,000 Guineas success came Fiorentina's win in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

Barely A Dry Eye In The House

Tragically, Prince Aly Khan did not live to enjoy the further glories of these wonderful horses. He was fatally injured in a car crash in Paris in May 1960 and when Petite Etoile lined up three weeks later in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, she raced in the ownership of HH the Aga Khan IV. There was barely a dry eye in the house as she showed her customary burst of “devastating speed” to sprint past the previous year's Derby winner Parthia “as if he were a selling plater” in the final furlong. Emotions again ran high the following year when she contested the Aly Khan Memorial Gold Cup at Kempton, notwithstanding that she suffered a rare defeat that day when finishing second to Sir Winston Churchill's High Hat.

An era ended with the death of Prince Aly Khan, for whom joining his father in the running of one of the greatest owner/breeder operations in racing history had been a continuation as natural as night following day. In the words of Marcus Marsh in his autobiography Racing with the Gods, “the whole uncertainty of racing, the pageantry, the people, captured his imagination in a way that nothing else ever could…He had considerable expertise. Tutored by Michael Beary, he developed into one of Europe's top amateur rides and he always had a good eye for a horse. He made some brilliant buys at the yearling sales.”

Perhaps the last word on the racing empire developed by the Aga Khan III should go to respected English turf historian Peter Corbett. In his 2016 biography of Bahram, Corbett concludes, “It is clear that the Aga Khan III was the most remarkable owner and breeder. Starting from scratch in 1921 until 1961 when one of the last horses he bred, Petite Etoile, ran her final race, he was leading owner (in Great Britain) 13 times and leading breeder eleven.

“The achievements of the Aga Khan III in partnership with Frank Butters, Dick Dawson, George Lambton, Prince Aly Khan et al and continued by HH Aga Khan IV and in recent years assisted by his daughter, Princess Zahra, both on the racecourse and the breeding shed are unlikely to be surpassed.”

A Serious Dilemma

That HH the Aga Khan IV, as the result of the sudden and tragic death of his father, owned the winner of the Coronation Cup in both 1960 and '61 (Petite Etoile) gives a false impression of the level of his commitment to the sport at that stage. A thoroughly accomplished all-round sportsman, hitherto he had been at least as interested in tennis, rowing, ice-hockey and skiing (representing Iran in the men's downhill skiing competition at the winter Olympics in 1964) as racing, understandably working on the assumption that his father would be at the helm of the Aga Khan Studs for many years to come. Prince Aly Khan's unexpected death changed all that.

The racing and breeding empire of which HH the Aga Khan IV had suddenly become master was thriving at the highest level. In the same week that Petite Etoile won her first Coronation Cup, the Alec Head-trained Charlottesville won the Prix du Jockey-Club followed by the Grand Prix de Paris. Shortly afterwards came the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud triumph of Sheshoon, also trained by Head. However, the inheritance of these horses presented HH the Aga Khan IV with a serious dilemma: the decision of whether or not to maintain the bloodstock empire which his grandfather had created and which his father had continued to foster.

It is not the family's way to do anything half-heartedly and, just as his grandfather had realised 40 years previously, the project must be done “thoroughly, or not at all”.

Typically, he did not take the decision lightly. Happily, from the point of view of the modern bloodstock world, he decided to maintain the studs and consequently to throw himself into the undertaking with enthusiasm and with commitment.

Mathet: An Inspired Appointment

One of the first steps in HH the Aga Khan IV's stewardship of the family's racing empire was to centralise the operation in France. The situation which he inherited had horses in England with Noel Murless and in France with Alec Head, as well as the small string raced by his step-grandmother Begum Aga Khan with Harry Wragg. Success was continuing to flow, such as the 1962 Prix Morny triumph of Darannour, but after careful and lengthy deliberation, he put into effect a major restructuring in 1964, centralising the operation in France with the horses under the care of Francois Mathet in Chantilly. This was an inspired appointment, one whose benefits persist to this day.

Mathet was long established as a master of his profession, training for the great French owner/breeders such as Francois Dupré and Mme. Leon Volterra. There was already a link between HH Aga Khan's family and Mme. Volterra, as the latter's late husband had raced the 1948 Derby winner My Love in partnership with the Aga Khan III the year before Volterra's death.

Even in advance, HH the Aga Khan IV's decision to appoint Mathet as his trainer looked a good one. With the wisdom of hindsight it was positively inspired. Mathet continued to train for his other owners, but his relationship with HH the Aga Khan IV developed into a very special one, their ultimately close friendship based on mutual respect. In an interview with Galop in 1978, HH the Aga Khan IV said of Mathet, “While I learned about breeding elsewhere and from others, everything I learned from racing I learned from him.”

The first champion whom Mathet trained for HH the Aga Khan IV was Zeddaan, winner in 1967 of five sprints including the Prix Robert Papin and in 1968 of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, the Prix d'Ispahan (which was then still open to three-year-olds) and the Prix de Seine-et-Oise. A son of the brilliant Nasrullah horse Grey Sovereign, Zeddaan was produced by the Vilmorin mare Vareta, who had won the Prix de la Foret as a two-year-old in 1954. His pedigree was suggestive of the Aga Khan III's famous dictum that the three most important qualities in a racehorse were “speed, speed and more speed” and on the racecourse he lived up to his lineage, his victories as a juvenile being so brilliant that it was surprising that he was subsequently able to stretch his speed to a mile, never mind to the 1850m of the Prix d'Ispahan.

Vareta's legacy in the annals of the Aga Khan Studs has continued to develop, most notably with her Poule d'Essai des Poulains-winning great-grandson Ashkalani; and Zeddaan (who was a pure-breeding grey) became an influential stallion, most notably by producing Kalamoun in his first crop. This great father-and-son pair went on to form the nucleus of the Aga Khan Studs' roster in the 1970s (notwithstanding that Kalamoun tragically died after only five seasons) with Kalamoun at Ballymany in Ireland and Zeddaan in France.

A Flourishing Commitment

If the 1960s had been a steep learning curve for HH the Aga Khan IV when it came to the study required in order to oversee the continuance of his family's breeding and racing operation, the following decade could be loosely described as 'construction and reconstruction', both literally and genetically.

On the racing front, Francois Mathet was at the heart of that process of rebuilding while HH the Aga Khan IV had his horses trained solely in France. It wasn't until 1978 that he made a return to the English scene by sending yearlings to Sir Michael Stoute and Fulke Johnson-Houghton.

Kalamoun, from the family of Nasrullah, emulated his sire Zeddaan by winning the 1973 Poule d'Essai des Poulains, becoming the first of three winners of that French Classic during the decade for the successful partnership of Mathet and the Aga Khan. That same year, Kalamoun also won the Prix Lupin and Prix Jacques Le Marois. His stallion career was sadly short-lived as he died at the age of nine, but his influence on the breed, particularly in France, is felt still through descendants such as Kenmare, Highest Honor and Kendargent.

Arguably greater satisfaction was derived from the 1976 Poulains winner Blushing Groom. The son of Red God had been a rare foal purchase by HH the Aga Khan IV, but as his grandfather was the breeder of the colt's paternal grandsire Nasrullah and his grand-dam Aimee, he was certainly not unfamiliar with the family.

Though a Classic winner and also third in the Derby, which tested his stamina to beyond his limit, it was Blushing Groom's sensational two-year-old season for which he will be most notably remembered as a racehorse. Beaten just once on debut, he went on to secure a quartet of Group 1 victories in the Robert Papin, Morny, Salamandre and Grand Critérium and to be crowned champion juvenile. His exploits at stud were similarly remarkable, but by that stage he was not under the sole control of his breeder.

Prior to the Derby, a deal was struck for Blushing Groom to stand in America at Gainesway Farm, with HH the Aga Khan IV retaining a number of shares. His passage to the USA was hastened by an impending embargo on the import of breeding stock following an outbreak of contagious equine metritis in Europe, meaning that Blushing Groom would not run again after finishing runner-up in the Prix Jacques Le Marois.

His purchase and subsequent syndication was however hugely influential for the Aga Khan Studs, for the stallion's valuation in excess of $6 million was to provide the financial wherewithal for HH the Aga Khan IV to make two further highly significant purchases which continue to underpin his operation to this day. Moreover, Kadyissa, a homebred filly from Blushing Groom's first crop, would go on to provide His Highness with the Derby winner Kahyasi.

Largely through the success of his outstanding son Nashwan, Blushing Groom was the champion sire of Great Britain and Ireland in 1989, and leading broodmare sire in 1988 and 1995.

Another son of Zeddaan, Nishapour, brought up back-to-back wins in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains for the owner/breeder and Mathet in 1978. By that stage, the Aga Khan had recently acquired all the stock of the late Francois Dupré. The repercussions of that decision have been felt through the ensuing decades but one horse in particular brought almost instantaneous success, as among the 83 bought from Madame Dupré was a yearling colt by High Top who would become known as Top Ville.

By 1979, he was the winner of the Prix du Jockey Club and Prix Lupin, helping HH the Aga Khan IV to become the leading owner in France that year for the first time since 1960. Hard on the heels of the Dupré purchase came the 1978 acquisition of Marcel Boussac's breeding empire which consisted of 144 horses, including Delsy, then a six-year-old mare, who would go on to produce Darshaan.

Naturally, the amalgamation of three significant operations meant a surge in numbers at the Aga Khan Studs. From 1977 to 1980, the broodmare band grew from 75 to 164. While the bloodlines were being expanded and enhanced, so too were the facilities required to give these thoroughbreds the best possible start in life.

Building work at Haras de Bonneval, which had been purchased in the 1960s, was completed in 1973 with a distinctive semi-circular main yard designed for maximum exposure to the sun. The 265-acre Normandy farm is also now home to the Aga Khan Studs' French-based stallions.

Aiglemont, HH the Aga Khan IV's private training centre at Gouvieux, just outside Chantilly, was built in 1977.

Perhaps the most momentous event of this time, however, occurred in Ireland. At Sheshoon Stud, early in March 1978, Sharmeen foaled a bay colt with a distinctive blaze and four white socks who would come to be known beyond just the racing cognoscenti for the best and worst of reasons. His name was Shergar.

Tomorrow: A breeder's greatest reward

The 100-year history of the Aga Khan Studs can be viewed via the online brochure.

The post A Century of Excellence, Part II appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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A Century of Excellence

One hundred years after the Aga Khan III made his first purchase at the Tattersalls July Sale, the bloodstock empire he built, and which has been carefully cultivated by his grandson, HH the Aga Khan IV, continues to thrive. Over the next three days we look back over the history of one of the most influential owner/breeder operations in the history of the Thoroughbred, with edited highlights from the Aga Khan Studs' centenary brochure, written by Emma Berry and John Berry.

They say that the future belongs to those who plan for it. That maxim definitely applies to the Aga Khan Studs, the foundations of which were laid only after lengthy and careful planning. The Aga Khan III bought his first horse in Europe (Paola) at Tattersalls' July Sale in Newmarket in 1921, but he had been working towards that moment for two decades.

The late Aga Khan was already a leading owner in India by the time that he first visited England in 1898. The first race-meeting which he attended in Britain was the Epsom Spring Meeting, and he returned to the historic course a month later for the Derby. He was then granted a Royal Household Badge for the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, and was soon a devotee of the British turf.

By the time that the Aga Khan III finally started to buy the fillies who would become the foundation mares of his stud, he was more than ready to put his plans into action. He had visited Colonel Hall-Walker's stud (now the Irish National Stud) at Tully in 1904 and his plans had started to solidify.

Other key characters in the establishment of the stud were the Hon. George Lambton and William Duke. Lambton's commitments to Lord Derby meant that he had to decline the request to train for the Aga Khan III, but he agreed to help in the selection of the yearlings and recommended that Dick Dawson, then based at Whatcombe, should train them. In France, William Duke was commissioned both to buy and train his horses there.

The Aga Khan III did not merely hand the reins to his advisors when it came to buying the horses, but played a key role in the selection himself. The results were stunningly successful, right from the outset.

The enterprise began at the Tattersalls July Sale in Newmarket in 1921 with the purchase of two fillies: a daughter of The Tetrarch, subsequently named Paola, and a filly by Bridge Of Earn, named Bombay Duck. The Aga Khan III and Lambton did not have to wait long before receiving confirmation that their judgement was sound. Paola won the Cheveley Park Stakes and finished second in the Middle Park Stakes before taking the Coronation Stakes at three, while Bombay Duck won the Richmond Stakes.

A filly bought later that autumn turned out to be the first of several crucial foundation mares for the Aga Khan Studs. Teresina, by Tracery, was third in both the 1,000 Guineas and St Leger and at four won three races including the Goodwood Cup and the Jockey Club Stakes. She subsequently did even better at stud, breeding nine winners including the 1930 Irish Oaks heroine Theresina, in turn the dam of St Leger winner Turkhan.

Teresina was, however, arguably not the best bargain from the St Leger Sale. A daughter of Flying Orb was bought for 5,000 guineas and named Cos. She became England's best two-year-old filly of 1922, when she won six of her seven races including the Queen Mary Stakes – on debut – and Imperial Produce Stakes. As a three-year-old Cos raced three times for two wins and second place in the 1,000 Guineas. At stud she bred four winners, including Costa Pasha, who won the Chesham Stakes, Hopeful Stakes and Middle Park Stakes, and Mrs Rustom, who landed the Ham Produce Stakes, Gimcrack Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes.

The dream start which Cos gave to the late Aga Khan's British ownership venture was continued later in the meeting when his second runner, Tricky Aunt, made a winning debut in the Windsor Castle Stakes. By the end of the season, largely thanks to the exploits of Paola and Cos, he finished ninth in the list of winning owners.

In 1924, the Aga Khan III achieved the unprecedented feat of being champion owner in both Britain and France, an achievement made even greater by the fact that it was only his third year racing horses. By 1925, he had completed the clean sweep by becoming champion owner in Ireland, with statistics that are easy to recount: one winner of one race! That race, of course, was the Irish Derby, won by the Dick Dawson-trained Zionist, a son of Spearmint who had been bought for 2,400 guineas as a yearling.

Thereafter his success in the two countries went in different directions. Success bred success in England, whereas in France he disbanded his stable when William Duke decided to return to the USA in 1925. He was soon, though, racing there again, giving his French operation plenty of impetus by buying Haras de Saint-Crespin and all its stock from the executors of the late M. Edouard Kann. His principal motivation in this transaction was to secure the Bridaine mare Uganda, which proved to be an inspired decision as she bred the 1932 Oaks heroine Udaipur, who in turn bred the Gold Cup winner Umiddad.

The Tattersalls St Leger Yearling Sale in 1922 turned out to be a crucial event in the establishment of the Aga Khan Studs. The policy remained the same, with the acquisition of fillies who had the potential to be foundation mares augmented by the acquisition of a handful of colts. Remarkably, the few colts bought contained two subsequent British Classic winners. A colt by Grand Parade, named Diophon, provided the Aga Khan III with his first Classic triumph by landing the 2,000 Guineas in 1924. Later that season Salmon-Trout, a son of The Tetrarch , won the St Leger.

The previous month's yearling sale in Deauville also yielded a Classic winner in the shape of Pot-Au-Feu who landed the Prix du Jockey-Club in 1924.

Worth Her Weight In Gold

If those purchases were to prove more than satisfactory, how can one describe the filly by The Tetrarch bought at the same sale? Admittedly, the daughter of the Coventry Stakes heroine Lady Josephine was expensive (she was knocked down to Lambton at 9,100 guineas, which at that point was the largest sum paid for a yearling in the 20^th century), but she turned out figuratively to have been worth her weight in gold. Named Mumtaz Mahal by her new owner and subsequently nicknamed 'The Flying Filly' by the racing public, the beautiful grey showed herself to be an outstanding two-year-old, topping the Free Handicap after easily winning five races including the Queen Mary Stakes, the National Breeders' Produce Stakes, the Molecomb Stakes and the Champagne Stakes. The following spring she led the 1,000 Guineas by 10 lengths at the bushes, only to run out of stamina and surrender the lead close home to Plack. Returned to sprinting, she recorded brilliant victories in the King George Stakes at Goodwood and the Nunthorpe Stakes.

Supreme though Mumtaz Mahal was as a racehorse, it is as a broodmare that she earned true immortality. It is not merely that she ranks the most influential broodmare ever to have graced the Aga Khan's studs – she can be viewed as arguably the most influential broodmare ever to have graced any stud.

Seven of Mumtaz Mahal's foals won. None was quite as special as their mother, although Mirza, a son of Blenheim, was just about as fast. However, her fillies came into their own after their retirement to the paddocks. Mumtaz Mahal ranked as the Aga Khan Studs' most notable matriarch throughout the 20^th century and remains thus in the 21^st, with her descendants including Petite Etoile, Shergar and Zarkava.

While the early years of the Aga Khan III's ownership revolved around racing horses whom he had bought, the main aim of breeding his own stock started as soon as the first batch of fillies retired to the paddocks. To this end, he bought several properties in Ireland to form the core of his studs. First came Sheshoon Stud, in 1923, with Ballymany Stud purchased shortly afterwards.

Blenheim Provides A Notable First

Just as Cos had got the ball rolling for the Aga Khan III as an owner with her debut victory in the 1922 Queen Mary Stakes, so was she a key player in the formative years of his career as a breeder. His best two-year-old of 1928 was her homebred Gainsborough colt Costaki Pasha, winner of the Chesham Stakes at Ascot followed by the Hopeful Stakes and then the Middle Park Stakes. The ease of his Middle Park Stakes victory ensured that he ended the year as joint-second top weight in the Free Handicap, only 1lb behind the top-weighted Tiffin.

Although Costaki Pasha's three-year-old season was disappointing, the Aga Khan III still ended the 1929 season as leading owner in Britain, his cause greatly helped by a tremendous crop of two-year-olds. Four of them were earmarked by Dick Dawson for Ascot. Two of the quartet had already run and won (Blenheim, who had been bought from his breeder Lord Carnarvon as a yearling; and Qurrat-Al-Ain, who been an expensive yearling at 12,500 guineas) while Rustom Pasha (a homebred colt by Son-In-Law from Cos) and Teacup would make their debuts.

The dream became reality when all four won. On the Tuesday Qurrat-Al-Ain justified odds-on favouritism in the Queen Mary Stakes; on the Wednesday Rustom Pasha dead-heated for the Chesham Stakes; on the Thursday Blenheim won the New (now Norfolk) Stakes; on the Friday Teacup won the Windsor Castle Stakes. The four horses made varying progress as that season and the next went on. Qurrat-Al-Ain was largely disappointing although she did win the Coronation Stakes 12 months later, whereas Rustom Pasha developed into one of the best three-year-olds of 1930, winning the Eclipse Stakes and Champion Stakes.

It was Blenheim, though, who went on to the greatest glory. Rustom Pasha and Blenheim both lined up for the 1930 Derby and, although Rustom Pasha went off the shorter-priced, Blenheim galloped his way to immortality by giving his owner his first victory in the greatest race of all. The excitement of the occasion was perfectly summed up by a contemporary report which related that the crowd gave “a striking display of enthusiasm when the Aga Khan, hat in hand, and laughing like a happy schoolboy, led the colt through a lane of humanity to the unsaddling enclosure”.

While Blenheim, of course, had been bred by Lord Carnarvon, the Aga Khan III was still able to taste Classic glory with a homebred that year when Theresina won the Irish Oaks. Theresina, incidentally, was arguably not the most distinguished of Teresina's offspring, her Classic triumph and subsequent great achievements as a broodmare notwithstanding. That honour could be said to have fallen to Alibhai, a son of Hyperion who was sold as a yearling in 1939 to race in the USA. He reportedly broke the track record at Santa Anita for four furlongs in training before suffering a career-ending injury while still unraced, but he subsequently became one of the best stallions in the States, most notably siring 1954 Kentucky Derby winner Determine. Alibhai was one of two Hyperion colts bred by the Aga Khan Studs who became leading sires in the States, the other being Khaled, responsible for 61 stakes winners headed by the mighty Swaps.

French Foundations

By this stage, the bulk of the Aga Khan III's British string was trained in Fitzroy House in Newmarket by Frank Butters, who had taken over the horses when their owner and Dick Dawson had parted company in 1931. That was one of two major changes to the Aga Khan III's operation that year. The other concerned the French studs. From the outset, the Aga Khan III had set great store by the dosage system of pedigree analysis formulated by Lt-Colonel Jean-Joseph Vuillier. The two men never actually met until 1925 but, when they did, the Aga Khan III immediately hired him as his breeding advisor and manager of his stud farms in France. The latter held the position until his death in 1931, when Vuillier's protégé Robert Muller was put in the charge of the farms while Madame Vuillier continued to provide advice.

The new partnership of the Aga Khan III and Frank Butters was an instant success, a glorious season in 1932 highlighted by two British Classic victories. Udaipur won the Oaks and Coronation Stakes, while Firdaussi won the St Leger and the Jockey Club Stakes. Butters ran four of the Aga Khan's horses in the St Leger and they finished first, second, fourth and fifth.

Greater glories were soon to follow, most notably via two of the greatest Derby winners: Bahram and Mahmoud. Each holds a particular place in the record books.

To this day, only two horses have won the British Triple Crown and subsequently retired unbeaten: Ormonde in 1886 and Bahram in 1935. Bahram and his half-brother Dastur were sons of the Friar Marcus mare Friar's Daughter, who bred 11 winners including Fille d'Amour (who finished fourth in the Oaks in 1929 and subsequently bred the 1943 Irish Derby winner The Phoenix) and Sadri who, exported to South Africa after failing to win in Britain, won the Durban July Handicap in 1941.

Mahmoud's claim to fame is that he set a new record time for the Derby (2:33.8) when scoring in 1936. That record stood for 59 years until Lammtarra won the race in 2:32.31. Mahmoud was a son of Mumtaz Mahal's Gainsborough filly Mah Mahal, who also bred Mah Iran (dam of Migoli, winner for the Aga Khan III and Butters of 11 races including the Dewhurst Stakes, the Eclipse Stakes and Champion Stakes in 1947; and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1948) and Petite Etoile's dam Star Of Iran.

Nasrullah The Wartime Hero

In the years leading up to the Second World War, the Aga Khan III greatly reduced his involvement owing to the uncertain wider global outlook. In 1938 he sold 18 yearlings at Tattersalls and 17 in Deauville, but still made the occasional purchase. Most notably, that autumn he bought a colt by Hyperion out of the Friar Marcus mare Sister Stella. Named Stardust, he was one of two top juveniles in 1939, winning Britain's most valuable two-year-old race (the National Breeders' Produce Stakes at Sandown) while the homebred Turkhan (a son of Bahram and Theresina) won the Coventry Stakes at Ascot. The following season Turkhan won the St Leger and Irish Derby, while Stardust finished second in both the 2,000 Guineas and St Leger. In time, Stardust's legacy became secure thanks to his son Star Kingdom, a breed-shaping stallion in Australia.

Far and away the most distinguished horse raced by the Aga Khan III during the Second World War, however, was Nasrullah. Wartime restrictions meant that Nasrullah raced only on Newmarket's July Course adjacent to the Heath on which he was trained. If one were being charitable, one could say that Nasrullah knew the area too well because he quickly learned that trying hard in his races was voluntary. His record was good but it was generally felt that had his resolution matched his ability he would have been a true champion and very possibly a Triple Crown winner. Ultimately, though, Phil Bull's observation in Best Horses of 1943 turned out to have been very prescient: “If conformation and innate ability count for anything he may make the name for himself as a stallion which his unfortunate temperament prevented his making for himself as a racehorse”.

As the war neared its conclusion, the pendulum swinging in favour of a return to normality in the allied countries, racing began the long journey back to health. In 1944 the Aga Khan III was able to enjoy the sterling efforts of his Butters-trained three-year-old Tehran, a son of Bois Roussel from the Solario mare Starfalla, in the wartime Triple Crown races: third in the 2,000 Guineas, second in the Derby and first in the St Leger. Also enjoying Tehran's success were the beneficiaries of the Indian Armies Comforts Fund as the Aga Khan had pledged at the outset of the war to donate all his winnings in England for the duration of the hostilities to this charity.

Another highlight in 1944 was the triumph of Umiddad in the Gold Cup (run on Newmarket's July Course early in July). In what was to be his last race, Umiddad gave his all for Gordon Richards to get the better of the previous year's Cesarewitch winner Bright Lady at the end a protracted battle. As a visibly exhausted Umiddad was walked around afterwards, the consensus of opinion among racegoers was that had Nasrullah possessed even half the determination of Umiddad, he would have shown himself to have been the best horse ever raced by the Aga Khan.

The Aga Khan III's best horse in the immediate post-war years was Migoli, a son of Bois Roussel from Mumtaz Mahal's Bahram granddaughter Mah Iran who excelled at both two and three before winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as a four-year-old in 1948. The Aga Khan III's smart bunch of homebred juveniles in 1947 included the Nasrullah colts Noor and Irish Derby winner Nathoo as well as the Nearco filly Masaka. The latter proved to be as frustrating as her paternal half-brother Nasrullah. She won the Oaks by six lengths but either side of that run just about refused to race in the 1,000 Guineas and refused to race altogether in the Coronation Stakes. Banished by Butters to Ireland, where she joined the Aga Khan's Irish trainer Hubert Hartigan, she won the Irish Oaks with her head in her chest, ridden by the National Hunt jockey Aubrey Brabazon.

That same year the Aga Khan III celebrated his fourth Derby victory, as part-owner of the Richard Carver-trained My Love, having bought a 50% share from the colt's breeder Leon Volterra for £15,000 after he had won the Prix Hocquart. This proved to be money well spent as My Love's next two races resulted in victories in the Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris.

The homebred two-year-old crop of 1949 was even more special, including Britain's best colt, Palestine, and best filly, Diableretta, a great granddaughter of Mumtaz Mahal. The former won his first six races, starting odds-on favourite each time. Diableretta was beaten on debut but then won her next seven races including the Queen Mary, July, Cherry Hinton and Molecomb Stakes.

Sadly, the 1940s ended on a very low note. Frank Butters had been a superb trainer for the Aga Khan III as well as “a very dear friend … for whom we all in my family have the greatest affection”. Towards the end of 1949, Butters was knocked off his bicycle in Newmarket's High Street. He survived but suffered irreparable brain damage that effectively ended his active life, although he lived for another eight years.

Tomorrow: A time of transition

The 100-year history of the Aga Khan Studs can be viewed via the online brochure.

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