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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.

Before becoming part of folklore, or reduced to a shabby punchline, Shergar was one of the finest racehorses of the last half-century.

A tragic mystery due to his kidnapping by the IRA in 1983, it can get overlooked how revulsion surrounding such a grotesque act was bound up in the impact the colt made on the wider public consciousness doing what he was bred to do.

Saturday’s (June 5, 2021) 242nd Epsom Derby is the 40th anniversary of Shergar turning racing’s Blue Riband into an unparalleled rout.

Hazar Imam with Shergar after the historic win on this day at the Epsom Derby

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)

14th June, 2005: H.H. The Aga Khan and Princess Zahra were in York where
The Aga Khan's Horse Valixir won the Queen Anne Stakes. The Aga Khan gave
a short interview to BBC TV and confirmed he will come back for the second
day of Royal Ascot.

The Aga Khan said he was delighted to have had a Royal Ascot winner with
master trainer Andre Fabre. “I never had horses with him until I bought
the Lagardere horses this year,” he said, referring to his purchase of the
late Jean-Luc Lagardere racehorses and breeding stock. “He is a horse that has

The Aga Khan Studs are saddened to announce that homebred champion Dalakhani has passed away on Jan. 15 at the age of 21.

Bred in Ireland, Dalakhani was a pure product of the Aga Khan Studs operation, being a son of the Aga Khan's Prix du Jockey Club winner Darshaan out of the Miswaki, blue hen mare, Daltawa.

Zanahiyr cemented his position as Ireland's premier three-year-old hurdler with a stylish success in the Grade 2 Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle, earning glowing praise from winning rider Jack Kennedy after a display that showcased his versatility and slick jumping.

The Aga Khan-bred Zanahiyr (1/2f) completed a hat-trick of wins when taking the Grade Two Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle. The three-year-old quickened away from the opposition in the closing straight under Jack Kennedy.

The Alain de Royer Dupre-trained Valia lit up an otherwise humdrum card at Longchamp this afternoon with a commanding victory in the Listed Prix de Thiberville for three-year-old fillies and could develop into a legitimate contender for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

De Royer Dupre and owner the Aga Khan presciently entered the daughter of Sea The Stars and 2014 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches runner-up Veda in Europe's most prestigious race last month, despite her being unraced.

Johnny Murtagh celebrates clinching his second Irish Derby victory aboard Alamshar amid memorable scenes at the Curragh in 2003

On February 1, 1983, TV-am launched on British TV screens. It was a fortnight behind the BBC’s ground-breaking Breakfast Time and the public had already shown themselves to be unsure about watching a news programme whilst eating their Cornflakes.

During those early days it looked like there was not enough interest to justify one televised breakfast show, let alone two.

His Highness The Aga Khan receives winner's trophy from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Epsom 2016-06-05

11.40 Longchamp
Prix Zarkava – Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage (Listed) | 1m2½f | 4yo+ fillies and mares | SSR

If you owned and bred one of the superstars of the 21st century you are bound to be keen to win the race named in her honour.

Which may well explain why the Aga Khan has two runners in the Prix Zarkava, which commemorates his outstanding filly who lit up French racing in 2008 with four straight Group 1 wins culminating in success here in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

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.

Dark reality is of a beautiful animal being gunned to death by incompetent criminals

So much is crammed into the Shergar legend that the all but certain reality of this beautiful, blameless creature dying a horrible death has become almost a footnote.

The precise nature of how Shergar was killed has never been definitively established, the same as how much of what happened to the record-breaking Derby winner in the days after his kidnap from the Aga Khan’s Ballymany Stud outside Newbridge on February 8th, 1983, remains unclear.

The future of several major stud farms in Co Kildare is under threat from the proposed development of a quarry near Kilcullen, according to leading figures in the horse racing industry.

Former jockey Ruby Walsh and racehorse owner the Aga Khan are among more than 200 locals who have become involved in a row over plans by Kilsaran International to develop a new quarry near their stables.

BELMONT, NY – H. H. The Aga Khan’s homebred Edisa overcame an awkward start by flying home in the late stages to win Saturday’s $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park.

SHERGAR’S trainer Michael Stoute has told how the famous steed was “the kindest horse” he worked with.

The Irish-bred thoroughbred was stolen from Ballymany Stud in Co Kildare in 1983 for a ransom of £2million, which was never paid.

The winner of the Epsom and Irish Derbys in 1981 — who was owned by the Aga Khan — is believed to have been shot by his IRA kidnappers after injuring his leg, though the organisation has never officially accepted responsibility.

Shergar shown with the owner H.H. The Aga Khan and Michael Stoute in 1981 at Ascot