Aga Khan Studs’ sires dominate the finish of the Prix du Jockey Club. Reliable Man stormed home in Sunday’s Gr 1 Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly to offer his sire Dalakhani a third Classic victory as a stallion and a fourth Gr 1 winner. The inexperienced dark grey colt was maintaining his unbeaten record in just three outings and appears to have plenty of improvement still to come.

Like his sire, Reliable Man is trained by Alain de Royer Dupré who said, “I knew that he was out of the ordinary when he made his winning debut at Saint-Cloud. I therefore decided that his next race should be at Chantilly in order for him to have a chance to discover this track. Our only concern was the distance of 2100 metres, if the Jockey Club was still run over a mile and a half we would have been even more confident. He now looks a perfect type for the Grand Prix de Paris.”

Royer Dupré trains a trio of top-class sons of Dalakhani this season in Reliable Man, Epsom Derby seventh Vadamar and the highly-regarded Sano Di Pietro and he added, “I am really delighted, as Reliable Man is out of Dalakhani, who is a great stallion.” Sven Hanson, owner-breeder of Reliable Man with his NP Bloodstock and Pride Racing Club, commented, “we chose to use Dalakhani as a stallion as he had good racing results and a pedigree to match.”

Dalakhani won the Gr 1 Prix du Jockey-Club in 2003 before going on to victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and his sire Darshaan was also successful in the French Derby, beating Sadler’s Wells and Rainbow Quest back in 1984. Gilltown Stud-based Dalakhani’s previous Classic progeny are Moonstone, winner of the Irish Oaks, and Conduit, winner of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes as well as two Breeders’ Cup Turfs. The stallion also sired the fast-finishing Baraan, who was slow to leave the stalls and lost over a dozen lengths at the start before streaking home in the final stages to secure third place. H.H. the Aga Khan’s colt is likely to have a chance to make amends in the Gr 1 Grand Prix de Paris over a mile and a half in July.

Dalakhani’s Gilltown neighbour Azamour enjoyed his share of the action in the Jockey Club, with the progressive Colombian finishing just a nose behind Baraan in fourth position for his attempt at Group level. He his closely linked to the Aga Khan Stud, as they sold his dam Clodora in foal to Azamour at Arqana breeding stock sale in 2007. Azamour is also sire of Native Khan who picked up a solid fifth place in the Epsom Derby 24 hours earlier and this colt could now be aimed at the Irish Derby later this month.

Updated on 07/06/2011.