Daryz Continues Group 1 Tear With Prix Aga Khan Victory

Daryz (FR) continued his merry way cutting a swathe through the European Pattern on a balmy evening at ParisLongchamp, completing a hat trick of group 1 victories in the May 21 Prix Aga Khan IV (G1) while doing a decent impression of a morning breeze on Les Aigles. In doing so, he made it abundantly clear that Minnie Hauk (IRE), Ombudsman (IRE), and any other horse planning to deny him a fourth in the Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1) at Ascot Racecourse next month will almost certainly have to run the race of their lives. Even that may not be enough on the evidence of the 3 1/2-length defeat of Leffard (FR), with Sosie (IRE)—the winner of this race last year in its previous guise as the Prix d'Ispahan—another 4 lengths adrift in third. If you had posed the question in the wake of Daryz's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) victory last October, you would have been forced to say that all three of them were suited to further than the 1 5/16-mile trip of the newly renamed Prix Aga Khan IV. But given the dash that the son of Sea The Stars (IRE) showed last month in the Prix Ganay (G1) and again here, we may be dealing with one of those rare horses that can follow any pace over a variety of trips, and still deliver a searing turn of foot. Daryz showed a few signs in the pre-parade ring that he may have half an idea what his future as a stallion might entail, but he showed perfect manners once Mickael Barzalona climbed aboard. He reinforced trainer Francis-Henri Graffard's confidence that he will go to Ascot with a favorite's shot at winning the Prince of Wales's Stakes, a race which was last won by a horse carrying the Aga Khan Studs' emerald and red silks in 2005, when Azamour struck at York. "He's an exceptional horse but he's not straightforward to train every day. He knows he's a boss. Jean-Philippe (his work rider) does a great job in ensuring they respect one another," Graffard said. "What I was looking for today was a race that would guide me as to how to train him for his next race. "He was very relaxed through the run, he was able to follow the pace easily and his jockey always had him where he wanted him. For me, the important thing was to give him a relatively straightforward race as we continue to build up to Ascot." Asked if he was even more impressed with Daryz here than he had been 3 1/2 weeks earlier, Graffard refused to get carried away, for all that he is well aware that he has rare gold on his hands. "What really blew me away was the way he accelerated in the Ganay, that was the surprise," he said. "Today was different because he had a race under his belt and we were bringing him back in trip. But, honestly, I never had a worry about him handling the trip." Graffard added: "The Prince of Wales's will be next and I'm not in a rush to go up to a mile and a half before the Arc. "It's a distance which wears on a horse who has the brutal acceleration he does and I'm relieved to say that the plan we hatched in January is going well so far." For Princess Zahra Aga Khan, there is evident pleasure that one of the most revered racing and breeding operations in Europe is going through the most extraordinary purple patch, with Calandagan (IRE) the reigning Longine's World's Best Racehorse and Rayif (IRE) the winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas G1) this month. She said: "The horse was completely, relaxed, chilled and in his own tempo. If anything, he was less keen than last time he ran, but that was his seasonal debut. He's learning his job. He was definitely mature at the end of last season, but now we're seeing the fully developed racehorse." Asked about winning the race renamed in honor of her late father, Princess Zahra added: "It's very touching. Dad contributed so much to French racing, to the Irish and European racing and breeding industries, that I think it's lovely to have that recognition of what he's done. "If we hadn't had a runner, it would have been a special race anyway. We happened to have a fantastic horse running in the race, so it's even more special. It's a lovely thing that there was a confluence of special things today." He is a fantastic horse, and the echoes of his performance in Paris will have reverberated all the way to the royal racecourse.