THIS is a page that pays tribute to the wonderful dual Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Daryz, but also to his Gilltown Stud-based sire Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), himself a winner of the same race, and to a female line that has delivered for the Aga Khan Studs for generations now.

It is an understatement to say that Daryz is the best of the eight winners so far from Daryakana, a daughter of Selkirk (Sharpen Up), and it is a lovely coincidence that she won the Group 2 Pris de Royallieu exactly 24 hours (both at 4.15pm local time) before Sea The Stars brought an end to his racing career with his Arc victory. Later that year, Daryakana would go on to land her own Group 1 win in the Hong Kong Vase. In so doing, she gave her dam, the French champion Daryaba (Night Shift), a deserved top-level winner.

When Daryz lined up on Sunday at ParisLongchamp, he was attempting to do something that had not been achieved by a colt since 1978, close to half a century previously, and win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in successive years. He didn’t just win the race, but did it majestically. The victory was a record ninth in the great international race for the Aga Khan family. As he faces into the next phase of his life as a sire, it is worth saying that the weight of history lies firmly on Daryz’s withers, as the four colts who have achieved the double before him, Ksar (1921-22), Tantième (1950-51), Ribot (1955-56) and Alleged (1977-78) all became leading sires who left a mark on the breed.

It is worth repeating the comment made by Princess Zahra Aga Khan after Daryz won his first Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last year – and it even resonates more now. “As a breeder, and as part of a legacy that stretches back more than a century, winning this race is the pinnacle of what one can achieve. I hope my father saw it. He was always so happy when he won the Arc. Now, I know that feeling too.” Well, Princess Zahra has gone one better with a dual hero, a rare and wonderful accomplishment.

United effort

It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a great and diverse group of talented people to make such an achievement possible.

From the small group who sat down to make mating plans for the broodmare band five years ago, to those who raised Daryz in the time since his birth, to the magic of Francis-Henri Graffard who has trained him to perfection, and the wizardry of Mickael Barzalona who has partnered him on all his dozen starts, it has been a united effort.

Not since Sea The Stars made the hairs stand on the back of my neck on October 4th, 2009 have I felt such anticipation before the Arc, or excitement after the race, that I experienced on Sunday, also October 4th. It was one of those “I was there” moments. What an addition Daryz will make to the stallion ranks, possessing a pedigree that is simply first-class.

Daryz is one of 90 group winners, 152 stakes winners, and 249 stakes performers on the flat – as I write – by the great Sea The Stars, and as his name would suggest, he has sired a number of stars. He is responsible for a quartet of horses who have won four or more Group 1 races, two at stud and two heading there next year. They are Stradivarius, Baaeed (already a group sire with his first crop), Sosie and Daryz.

Outstanding

The 20 years young Sea The Stars has 26 individual Group 1 winners, is a sire of Group 1 sires, and an outstanding broodmare sire. His latter forte was reinforced this year thanks to such as Christmas Day (Group 1 Derby), Erdenali (Group 1 Prix du Moulin last month for the Aga Khan Studs), Green Empress (Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac on Sunday), Wimbledon Hawkeye (Group 2 Prix Dollar on Saturday), Purview (placed Grade 1 Canadian International at the weekend), El Cordobes (placed in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Belmont last week), and many more.

Now retired from breeding, Daryakana produced 12 foals, six of each sex. The wonderful news for the Aga Khan Studs is that they own all of her daughters, the last of which is her yearling from the first crop of Erevann (Dubawi). Her eight winners include the Group 1 Prix Ganay winner Dariyan (Shamardal), six of the eight are stakes winners, and that could grow yet as Daryz’s three-year-old half-brother Daryzan (Zarak) is lightly raced, has won twice, and his placings include runner-up in a Group 2.

CONSISTENCY is one of the keys to the success of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), and there are many other adjectives you could use to highlight his performance as a sire. All that you can say is missing from his roll of honour at stud is a sire championship.

Just the day before Daryz won the centrepiece of European racing on Sunday, Shadwell’s Al Aasy (Sea The Stars), now a nine-year-old and bred by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holding, recorded career win number 14, all but one of them in stakes races; he tenaciously won the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot. It was his third win of the year, and in late August he prevailed by a short neck in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville.

In a remarkable career, Al Aasy has only twice in 33 outings competed in races that were not either listed or group contests, his debut at two and his first win at three. He has raced twice in Group 1 races, and was denied a neck by Pyledriver in the Coronation Cup, with Japan, Albaflora, Highland Chief and Mogul in arrears. Al Aasy started favourite that day.

There was no shortage of owners, trainers, sires and more doubling up at ParisLongchamp over the weekend. The Thoroughbred Corporation, whose racing advisor is Jane Mangan, saw their colours first past the post twice in Group 1s on Sunday, on the first occasion with Green Empress (Saxon Warrior), already given a ‘bargain of the week’ accolade by this column.

Sunderland Holding

Bred by Sunderland Holding, and a €55,000 Goffs Orby Book 1 buy by Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley and Joseph O’Brien, Green Empress has won two of her five starts, and been second three times – always to Sun Goddess. Her other win came in the Group 2 Alpha Centauri Debutante Stakes at the Curragh. She is the third top-level winner for Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact).

Green Empress is the second foal of her dam, and the first sold for 320,000gns in 2024 to Stonestreet Stables. That filly, Amberglen (Night Of Thunder), took her tally of wins to three in the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes over eight and a half furlongs on the turf at Saratoga in August. She is trained by Brad Cox.

Two group or graded stakes winners with her first two foals means that Rabbah Bloodstock surely got a bargain when they paid €130,000 for Sea Empress’ third progeny, a yearling son of Space Blues (Dubawi), at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale. This year she had a colt by Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy). The Tsui family bred Sea Empress, and she won at two and three. On her debut she beat another daughter of Sea The Stars, Teona, who went on to win the Group 1 Prix Vermeille.