STEPPING INTO THE LIMELIGHT
Taken from the Racing Post
By Nancy Sexton
THERE was a feeling of déjà vu as Darjina crossed the line a
half-length to the good in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix d’Astarte at
Deauville. Not only was it the second consecutive year that the
winning filly had worn the green and chocolate colours of Princess
Zahra Aga Khan, but it was the second time this season that Darjina
had edged out Missvinski for victory.
It was back in April that Darjina and Missvinski first met in
the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte at Longchamp, where, in a similar
fashion to the d’Astarte, the latter made Alain de Royer-Dupre’s
filly battle hard to win by a short neck.
Darjina may not yet be as versatile as last year’s winner,
Mandesha, but she has become a leading miler after a meteoric rise
that has spanned only five races. Judging by her battling
qualities, she is as tough as she is talented, and it would be no
surprise to see her maintain her superiority over Finsceal Beo –
whom she edged out in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches – if they
were to meet again.
It is pretty short odds that each season will feature a stallion
who rises from obscurity, usually as a result of an upgrade in the
quality and quantity of his mares. The stallion may still struggle
against fashion, however meritorious their results may be, but that
is something which has never bothered the Aga Khan family, who
consistently produce high-class horses by sires who have rested
under the commercial threshold.
Courtesy of a trip halfway around the world, an aborted stud
season and the shadow of an illustrious brother, ZAMINDAR has
become this year’s candidate to gain top honours in the ‘revival’
category. His position is ironic, as from the outset his movements
were eagerly awaited, and yet, despite his reasonable overall
record, he served only 47 mares last season.
That is likely to change as, aside from Darjina, he has also
sired Coquerelle, winner of the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary this
season, complementing the results of his first crop that included
another Pouliches winner in Zenda.
There is no escaping the fact that the majority of his
highest-rated horses have been campaigned in France, and that not
many of his colts have gained black type. But he is now emerging as
a useful source of quality runners and it may not be too
far-fetched to suggest that he could become a better sire than his
brother, Zafonic.
Zafonic’s outstanding display in the 1993 2,000 Guineas ensured
that hype would surround ZAMINDAR
from the day he set foot on a racecourse. And the hype intensified
after the strapping colt made a bloodless winning debut in a 51.2f
conditions race at Maisons-Laffitte.
Let loose in stakes company, ZAMINDAR
took the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg, but the bubble burst in the Group
1 Prix Morny, when Bahamian Bounty outbattled him to win by a short
neck. That defeat was blamed on inexperience, and ZAMINDAR
made his next appearance, armed with a pacemaker, in the Group 1
Prix de la Salamandre.
But after his pacemaker failed to break well, ZAMINDAR and
The West shot off like rockets to set a furious pace, and when
Revoque came to challenge, neither could muster a fight.
ZAMINDAR’s run in the 2,000 Guineas was also an
unhappy experience, as the waiting tactics needed for him to stay
1m were too exaggerated, and in the event, he probably ran a
personal best to finish fifth. Unfortunately, he failed to run to
that form again, and was retired to Banstead Manor Stud for the
1998 season.
At £7,000, ZAMINDAR was, in theory, offering smaller
breeders the chance to tap into Zafonic, who at the outset of 1998
was represented by reigning champion two-year-old Xaar.
But ZAMINDAR failed to hit the heights of popularity and
had stood for just two seasons at Banstead Manor before an injury
in 2000 resulted in just one foal in 2001. His fortunes took an
upward turn when his first crop of juveniles contained the Listed
winner Lipstick, but by then he had been sent to Marablue Farm in
Florida, where he stood for two seasons, siring 77 foals from a fee
of $5,000.
Whether it was the emergence of Zenda or the death of Zafonic
that put ZAMINDAR on the flight across the
Atlantic is an open question, but the fact that Princess Zahra
decided to send her Group 3-placed Darinska to
ZAMINDAR is testament to the potential he showed with
only two European crops.
Although Darjina is from a family that can be relied upon to
produce its fair share of high-class winners, it
wasn’t until last season, when the top-class winners Darsi and
Daramsar emerged, that it regained its glory days of former
years.
Via the Group 3 winner Daralinsha, Darjina traces to Marcel
Boussac’s influential mare Pretty Lady, dam of the dual Champion
Stakes winner Dynamiter and top-class two-year-old Abdos, later the
damsire of Darshaan.
TO PRODUCE two colts of that ability is rare enough, but Pretty
Lady’s third stakes winner was Dalama, a daughter of Djebel who
took the Le Coupe De Maisons-Laffitte. Although Dalama failed to
reproduce her talents at stud, her Labus granddaughter, Darazina,
has since forged her own heritage, producing the high-class
Australian colt Gentle Genius as well as the Group 3-placed Darata,
later dam of the 1999 champion three-year-old French filly Daryaba,
herself dam of last year’s high-class three-year-old Daramsar. That
line of the branch is obviously flourishing, but for the time being
it looks to have been surpassed by that of Darazina’s Empery
daughter, Daralinsha, the dam of, among others, Group 2-placed
Daraydala and Listed winner Daralimara.
Daralinsha also bred the Group 3- placed Daralbayda, who gave
the owner her first racing success when scoring at Saint-Cloud in
June 1996, and it has been in Princess Zahra’s colours that each of
Daralbayda’s three stakes performers have won. Heading the
trio is the Listed winner Darkara, but her Zilzal daughter,
Darinska, was no slouch, winning on her debut at Saint-Cloud before
running third in the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont at Chantilly.
Sending a mare effective over middle distances to a speed
influence is a well-trodden path, but more often than not it fails
to produce the desired effect. However, in Darjina, Princess Zahra
not only has a filly with a devastating turn of foot, but also with
a live chance of staying further.
Date:
31 July 2007