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Eight years later Cos achieved a still more remarkable success. It was a cool October afternoon
when Rustom Pasha, the second produce of Cos, and already winner of the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, lined up at
Newmarket for the last great weight-for-age race of the season, the Champion Stakes. His opposition included such
fine Classic winning contemporaries as Diolite (2,000 guineas), Fair Isle (1,000 guineas), and Singapore (St. Leger).
Grace Dalrymple, whose Classic engagements had been voided by the death of her owner Lord Dewar, was a sentimental
favourite and tried to make all the running but, having beaten off Fair Isle, was finally overtaken by the patiently
ridden Rustom Pasha (Harry Wragg) who won by three quarters of a length. No one looking on could have appreciated just
how significant a moment in turf history they had witnessed.
Ruston Pasha had become the first of no less the ten home-bred winners of this contest for the
Aga Khan and his family. This incredible tally was recently bolstered by
Kalanisi's
win in a memorable renewal in 2000. In winning that
year's Champion Stakes Kalanisi defeated seven individual Group
One winners including Arc winner Montjeu and classic heroine Love Divine.
Other notable winners for the Aga Khan family include such super-stars as Nasrullah,
the greatest of all the Aga Khan-bred stallions; Migoli, the only English-trained winner of the Prix de
l'Arc de Triomphe in the period spanned by the years 1924 - 1970; and Petite Etoile
who at 134 is still the highest Timeform rated family racemare. In this decade, besides Kalanisi's
win the present Aga Khan has also owned and bred the winners of the French and Irish equivalents, the Prix Ganay at Longchamp with
Kartajana (1991),
Valanour (1996) and
Astarabad (1997) and the Irish Champion Stakes
at Leopardstown with Timarida (1996) and
Daylami (1999).
( Continue )
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Rustom Pasha after winning
the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. This was the beginning
of a record ten home-bred wins in the Champion
Stakes at Newmarket by the late Aga Khan, his son
and grandson. |
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