Equinties - The Aga Khan

Gm Equinauts

World leading racehorse breeder and owner The Aga Khan IV has died at the age of 88. He passed away peacefully last night surrounded by his family in Lisbon, Portugal.

A spiritual leader to 15m Ismailis, a close friend to Queen Elizabeth II, a force in world horse racing, he certainly lived a unique lifestyle.

The equine roll of honour representing The Aga Khan’s famous green and red silks is long and distinguished, amassing to a record 168 Group 1 winners including unbeaten Arc winning homebred wonder-mare, ZARKAVA; English Derby, Irish Derby and Arc winner SINNDAR; King George winner ALAMSHAR; Group 1 hat-trick winning (Prix Vermeille, Prix de l’Opera and Breeders’ Cup Turf) and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 2nd TARNAWA and of course, the famous SHERGAR.

ZARKAVA was his best horse but SHERGAR his most famous. He was the best racehorse in the world and obliterated 1981’s Derby field. Two years later he was kidnapped and held ransom. Some say it was the IRA, others firmly believe it was opportunistic pikeys taking a chance amidst the mess of ‘the Troubles’ knowing the IRA would get the blame anyway.

The real trouble though was SHERGAR himself. He was a monster of a colt with a hot head and fiery temper. Only a professional horseman would be able to handle him, his kidnappers had no chance. He must have been a nightmare for them (good lad).

With the Aga Khan refusing to pay the ransom money and the idiot pikeys not being able to look after him properly, they shot him and deprived the breeding world of his son’s. C*nts.

Anyway, back to The Aga Khan. He was more than the richest race horse owner and breeder, he was a world leading philanthropist too, but given we’re a racing newsletter, we’ll let someone else detail his life away from the racetrack.

RIP The Aga Khan.

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

THE MARES

Gavin Cromwell and the Mares’ Chase. He’s looking to defend his title this year, and he has a very strong squad on paper to do so.

He has the defending champion, LIMERICK LACE, alongside the ante-post favourite, BIOLUMINESCENCE, and a potential market shortener, ONLY BY NIGHT.

Add to the fact that he has a strong chance with SIXANDAHALF in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and Cromwell looks to have a good bunch of mares at the moment.

But, the Mares’ Chase is his strongest race on paper. Well, there’s a chance it could take a hit for a couple of reasons. Let’s start with LIMERICK LACE. Like our reservations about GERRI COLOMBE, they might have overcooked her last season by running in the Grand National after a soft ground Mares’ Chase.

She ran in the Betfair Chase on deplorable ground in November and then ran no sort of race at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day. She’s certainly disappointing connections this season, and they may not even go to Cheltenham, as Cromwell said to Irish Racing.com: “She’ll certainly have an entry for the Mares’ Chase again and she has an entry for the Grand National as well.

“Whether she goes to Cheltenham or straight to Aintree, I’m not sure.”

But then to Attheraces, he said: “We’ve been disappointed with her so far this season. We’ve changed things around with her since her last run and we’re hoping we can spark a return to form in her. We’ll go straight to the Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival with her. The rain arrived in time for her in the race last year and we’d be delighted if it did the same again.”

Racing bingo again, classic!

As for BIOLUMINENSCENE, second to DANCING CITY lto, he was equally as windy.
He said: “We’d love to run her in the Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, but she is ground dependent. She wants it soft. I was delighted with her run behind Dancing City given the terms the race was run on. She jumped very well and galloped through the line. She stays well, but on soft ground I think she’ll be fine coming back down a bit in trip.”

So, could ONLY BY NIGHT be the solid one? She’s either running at Naas or Exeter this weekend, and she has a nice bit of quality about her. She could be very interesting in March.

ACTING ACE

It’s been a fairly depressing season for GOLDEN ACE and her fans. She looked really good when beating BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD at the Cheltenham Festival and then she looked very good again at the Cheltenham April meeting.

However, this season has been tough for her. She was beaten in the Ascot Hurdle, fine, but then she was beaten again in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle by LUCKY PLACE and GOWELL ROAD.

Although the two horses that finished ahead of her on New Year’s Day are nice, the horse we saw last year really shouldn’t have been beaten this season, so maybe something has been amiss?

Well, her next target has been confirmed by trainer Jeremey Scott, and it’s not the one everyone thought it was going to be. With a mark of 144, a few thought the William Hill Hurdle (old Betfair Hurdle) was going to be the race, but she was taken out of the contest on Monday.

The Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle is the aim, as Scott said: "There will be fewer runners at Wincanton, which won't put quite as much pressure on her jumping. In the long term, I think it's a better route, and we'll be reasonably well treated with a lot of them with her mares' allowance.

"We've been wanting to run her over two miles, but every time we've had her near to what we thought was right, there just hasn't been a two-mile race for her.

"Because the horses haven't been sparkling, I don't know if it's that she doesn't see the two and a half [miles] out or whether it's because they haven't been right. That's why we're keen to put her over two miles now, and that will steer us where we go from here on."

Scott had a winner on January 30th and a close second one day later, so maybe the yard form is turning nicely. If she wins in two weeks’ time, Scott said she could well head to the Champion Hurdle. That’s a fair assessment as she probably just doesn’t stay the full 2m4f test of a Mares’ Hurdle.

We’re hearing she’s back to her best, just fyi, hence the article.

SCRATCHINGS

We had a few scratchings for some notable Cheltenham Festival races yesterday, so let’s highlight them.

The first is GREY DAWNING who was taken out of the Ryanair Chase, though he was left in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Matt Chapman revealed last month that Dan Skelton was leaning toward missing Cheltenham with the gallant grey, and it looks like Skelton wasn’t joking, but the Gold Cup is still a potential option.

He said: "I left Grey Dawning just to monitor it. Our intentions are to go to Kelso and Aintree but we're watching the Gold Cup. We're very mindful we need to get the spring right and we'll be trying to do that."

Weird. We know they have PROTEKTORAT for the Ryanair Chase, and he has a good chance, but GREY DAWNING won’t win a Gold Cup. We’re pretty sure he doesn’t stay, so you could go to Ryanair with him.

Ah well. Keep him fresh for Aintree and then go there with the freshness angle over some of the Cheltenham runners.

Elsewhere, EMBASSY GARDENS, sixth to GALOPIN DES CHAMPS in the Irish Gold Cup, was scratched for the Ryanair Chase and Gold Cup. Irish Grand National, maybe?
BLUE LORD was also scratched from the Champion Chase, as expected, and so was GENTLEMAN DE MEE. Grand Annual for the latter?

RISK ON

Nothing of interest today. VIYANNI and BERKSHIRE WHISPER might make a dirty even money double but we’re really not into betting heavy odds on shots, even though they should win.

A tools down day.

COMPETITION

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