Daryz

2022 b. c. Sea The Stars - Daryakana (Selkirk)

Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard

Daryz is the product of two star performers – champion racehorse and leading sire Sea The Stars and Group 1 winner and producer Daryakana, who is the dam of six Stakes winners in total. Among his half-siblings is Group 1 winner Dariyan.

The all-bay colt did not run at two, but ran up a succession of victories at three. He won his maiden on debut at ParisLongchamp in April and followed up the following month in a Class 2 contest at the same track.

Stepped up to Stakes company for the first time, Daryz scored a four-and-a-half-length win in the Listed Prix Ridgway, prompting jockey Mikel Barzalona to name him one of the best three-year-olds at Aiglemont. Three weeks later, he won his fourth consecutive race with victory in the Gr.2 Prix Eugene Adam.

“We have high expectations of him and we are very pleased with the result of the race,” said trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. “We really like him, today was an interesting test and he performed again. There was very little pace in the race and it became very tactical, so it was good that he managed to get his head in front. I think, mentally and physically, there is plenty of improvement to come and he is not quite the finished article

“He is obviously a candidate for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. We have taken it step by step with him, he will stay a mile-and-a-half, but first he needs to learn to settle. The Gr.1 International Stakes is a race I will put forward for Daryz. I will discuss with Princess Zahra where she would like to go, but I will probably make an entry for Daryz at York.”

After finishing sixth in the Gr.1 International Stakes, and an incredibly close second in the Gr.3 Prix du Prince d’Orange, Daryz did indeed head to the Arc for his date with destiny, his first try over 12 furlongs.

On a day full of emotion, with a rainbow in the Paris skies behind him, Daryz pulled over five lengths clear of the field alongside dual Classic heroine Minnie Hauk and prevailed to win by a head – following in the footsteps of his sire Sea The Stars, winner of the race in 2009.

"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," said Princess Zahra Khan after the win – an historic eighth success in this prestigious race for the Aga Khan family. "I hope my father saw it. He was always so happy when he won the Arc. Now, I know that feeling too.”

“He has that dazzling turn of foot and we always thought that if we ever had a colt good enough for the Arc, it would be him,” confirmed trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, while winning jockey Mickael Barzalona added, “I was quite confident in the final straight. I saw that Minnie Hauk had made quite a significant acceleration and [Daryz] immediately reacted behind her in her slipstream and he showed tremendous fighting spirit."