Aga Khan Studs sires on form early in the season.

Stallions from the Aga Khan Studs have made a good start to the European flat season, led by Azamour whose son Colombian took the Gr 3 Gordon Richards Stakes at the weekend. Dalakhani’s progeny Reliable Man and Wilddrossel were both Stakes placed and Sinndar’s Arc runner-up daughter Shareta finished third on her seasonal debut at Chantilly.

The John Gosden-trained Colombian thoroughly deserves this first Group success as he was most consistent throughout the 2011 season, never finishing outside the first four in races such as the Gr 1 Prix du Jockey Club, the Gr 2 Prix Eugène Adam and Prix Guillaume d’Ornano. The dark grey Azamour colt ended last year with success in the Listed Grand Prix du Nord. He kicked off his four-year-old campaign perfectly, adapting well to the testing conditions at Sandown and registering a three-length verdict over Poet in the ten furlong Gordon Richards Stakes. A regular visitor to France in 2011, Colombian should find plenty of opportunities at four years old, and he also holds an entry to the Gr 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Reliable Man finished ahead of Colombian when winning the 2011 Prix du Jockey Club and this grey son of Dalakhani made a satisfactory return to action in Group 1 company on Sunday. On his seasonal début, Alain de Royer Dupré’s charge finished third in the Gr 1 Prix Ganay over a distance (ten furlongs) shorter than his preferred mile and a half.

Dalakhani has a Classic hope for 2012 in German-trained filly Wilddrossel, third in the Listed Grosser Preis von Rossmann – Derby Trial at Hannover on Sunday. This was only the second career start for Markus Klug’s charge, who had opened her account on her first racecourse appearance at Bremen earlier in April. Wilddrossel is entered in both the German Derby and Italian Oaks.

Sinndar was represented on Monday by his Arc de Triomphe second Shareta. Making her seasonal début, the filly led the field for much of the Gr 3 Prix Allez France (1m2f) before being beaten by under a length to take third place. Like Reliable Man, Shareta was running over a distance below her ideal and will certainly improve from this first outing.

Updated on 02/05/2012.