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Our industry expert unpicks the pedigree of Sunday's seriously impressive Prix du Jockey Club winner Vadeni.

As a dual Classic-winning son of Galileo, the first crops of champion two-year-old Churchill were highly anticipated.

Ladies Church was the first to score in stakes company with Vadeni joining her shortly after in the Listed Criterium du Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage at Deauville.

Doha: The Gr 1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club, sponsored by the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC), was run at Chantilly yesterday.

Carrying the prestigious silks of his owner and breeder the Aga Khan, the three-year-old colt Vadeni (Churchill) was spectacular when galloping to a five-length success in the top classic event.

Vadeni signed a magnificent eight success in the race for the Aga Khan, who, prior to Vadeni, last won the race with Darsi in 2006.

Waiting in the peloton, Vadeni took the lead at the post for the last 400 meters then left his pursuers on the spot 100 meters from the goal to win very easily without his jockey needing to solicit him.

With a clenched fist and arm raised to the sky, Christophe Soumillon said at Equidia’s microphone, with a smile on his face: “When I saw that William Buick absolutely wanted to go ahead, I waited. My horse took the lead a bit early on and went completely flat. That’s awesome, I didn’t think he was going to do that“.

Waiting in the peloton, Vadeni took the lead at the post for the last 400 meters then left his pursuers on the spot 100 meters from the goal to win very easily without his jockey needing to solicit him.

With a clenched fist and arm raised to the sky, Christophe Soumillon said at Equidia’s microphone, with a smile on his face: “When I saw that William Buick absolutely wanted to go ahead, I waited. My horse took the lead a bit early on and went completely flat. That’s awesome, I didn’t think he was going to do that“.

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.

HH the Aga Khan IV with Zeddaan | Getty Images

The Group 1 action at Deauville came to an end on Sunday with the twin highlights of the Morny and the Jean Romanet, but French racing's summer by the sea has at least one more gift to deliver in the shape of Saturday's Racehorse Retraining day.

It is fair to say France was a little late to the party when it came to a unified approach to aftercare, retirement planning and linking up with what is a voracious appetite in the wider equestrian population for sourcing horses once their first career is over.

Hazar Imam at Chantilly today for the 2021 Prix de Diane Longines Sunday June 20, 2021

Hazar Imam at Chantilly today for the 2021 Qatar Prix du Jockey. His horse Saiyadabad & Makaloun participated in the races. Saiydabad’s regular partner Christophe Soumillon has chosen to take the ride on fellow Aga Khan owned/bred Makaloun.

Karim Aga Khan et La Bégum Salimah Aga Khan à l'occasion du Prix du Jockey Club, le 4 juin 1973 à l'hippodrome de Chantilly, France. (Photo by Jean Claude FRANCOLON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Prince Karim Aga Khan, president of the Foundation for the preservation and development of the Chantilly estate on June 22, 2012 in Chantilly, France. (Photo by Philippe Petit/Paris Match via Getty Images)

The quiet revolutionary
By Akbar S. Ahmed
The (Manchester) Guardian Weekly, August 18, 1991
Picture caption: The Aga Khan: paradox

Lope de Vega filly is now second favorite for the French One Thousand Guineas (G1).

he Aga Khan's Simeen is now just 5-1 for the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, G1) with Coral and Betfair after getting up under a hand ride from Christophe Soumillon in the Prix de la Pistole at Chantilly on May 13.

The daughter of Lope de Vega is now 3-for-3, and trainer Jean-Claude Rouget believes she has a big future, even though she has yet to contest a pattern race.

His Highness Prince Karim, the Aga Khan, is many things.

“Virtually a one-man state,” as Vanity Fair once put it, he’s the spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims and a unique embodiment of the potential for East blending with West. He inherited from his Indian-born grandfather a dynasty that spans the Muslim world, but he is a British citizen, born in Switzerland, raised in Kenya, educated at Harvard, and lives in a French chateau.

One of France’s most renowned châteaux is facing an uncertain future after the Aga Khan announced the dissolution of the organisation he created to save it from ruin.

The spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Shia Muslims said he would wind up the foundation which has restored the Château de Chantilly, about 30 miles northeast of Paris, five years earlier than scheduled.

THE AGA KHAN'S VISION - To him, architecture is not the mother of the arts; it is the mother of civilization

2019, June 2: Princess Zahra was at the Prix du Jokey Club in Paris at Chantilly racetracks. Horses owned and bred by His Highness the Aga Khan and Princess Zahra Aga Khan have won 38 races in 2019

From: The Racing Post
Zarkallani was the surprise name to feature among 15 colts declared for Sunday's Qipco Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly having broken his maiden just seven days prior to the Classic.

Princess Zahra attended the Qipcco Prix du Jockey - also known as the French Derby - at Chantilly. Zallakhani with jockey Christophe Soumillon represented the Aga Khan's colours

France’s finest princely apartments at the Château de Chantilly are open to the public for the first time, thanks in large part to the Aga Khan