Aga Khan Studs maternal lines were once again successful in Cape Town’s premier contest for older horses as Whisky Baron lifted the Gr.1 Sun Met. He was following in the footsteps of Champion Igugu who had won the race in 2012 and who was, like Whisky Baron, bred out of an Aga Khan mare.

The four-year-old has been a revelation since being gelded and he was winning his fifth consecutive victory as he powered home to score from South African Horse of the Year Legal Eagle by a length and a half in this prestigious 10 furlong event.

Whisky Baron is a product of the joint venture between the Aga Khan Studs and Arrowfield Stud, and he provided Arrowfield resident Manhattan Rain with his first Group 1 winner as a sire. The gelding is out of unraced Sinndar mare Tazkara, who descends from foundation mare Tonnera, winner of the Gr.1 Prix Saint-Alary in 1966 and ancestress of Group 1 winning juveniles Arcano, Carlotamix and Damson. Tazkara’s Stakes-placed dam Tashiriya (Kenmare) produced Group 3 victrix Tashelka and Group 1 placed Tashkandi, while her second dam Tashtiya (Shergar) is responsible for two Stakes performers.

Tazkara has now returned to France, where she has a Southern-hemisphere two-year-old by Snitzel in the stable of Jean-Claude Rouget and a yearling by Excelebration. She is expecting a foal to Muhaarar. In Australia, she has a three-year-old filly, Pretty Snitzel (Snitzel), currently in training with Kelly Doughty.

Raised at Arrowfield Stud, Whisky Baron was sold for just Aus $50,000 at Inglis Easter Yearling sale in 2014. Bought by Craig Roscoe and Joey Ramsden, he now represents owners Craig and Ross Kieswetter and trainer Brett Crawford.

Arrowfield Stud will be presenting five yearlings out of Aga Khan broodmares from the families of Vadawina, Azamour, Manighar and Mandistana at the forthcoming Inglis Easter Sale in April.