SPORT

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 27, 16 December 1938, Page 22

SPORT

by

S. V.

McEwen

The present racing season in New Zea‘land, provides us with another example of the world-wide influence which the Aga Khan, England’s foremost breeder, has had on the breeding and racing of the thoroughbred. ' a a

or" Less than 20 years ago this Indian Prinee first embarked as an owner in England: ‘Later he launched out as a_ breeder. Today he breeds and races on a gigantic scale and the product of his several breeding studs is spreading itself to the four corners of the earth. Feature of the present racing season in New Zealand is the success of two-year-olds by the Englishbred stallion Bulandshar, who was bred and raced by the Aga Khan before being sold to Mr. Frank Ormond, who stands-him at service at the Karamu Stud on the Fernbill road near Hastings.

Bulandshar was imported to New Zealand in 1934, and this is the first season in which his progeny have raced. oS Already he has placed himself at the head of the sires of Winning two-year-olds, _ five horses claiming him as their sire having won eight races. This performance compares very favourably with that of Beau Pere, who created a mild sensation with his first crop in New Zealand last Stason, Carbine Blood Bulandshar’s breeding is of particular interest to New Zealanders because his mother, a mare named La Douairiere, is a granddaughter of immortal Carbine, who was foaled in this Dominion, she being by Carbine’s Derby-winning son Spearmint. Bulandshar was a, fine stayer, winning at a mile and 2 helf, while his three-quarter brother, Le Grand Due, carried the Aga Khan’s colours successfully in the New Stakes at Ascot and was third in the Derby. The progress which the Aga Khan has made in less than two decades from the ranks of novice owners to one of the foremost breeders in the world, provides one of the romances of racing history, He has swept through the entire classic programme, and horses he has bred are eagerly sought after by studmasters all over the world. This is not a case of a man blundering to success merely because he has sufficient wealth. Such a thing does happen at times, particularly if the purse is deep and well-lined; but behind every story of a successful breeder’s career we can find patience, courage, sound judgment; strict adherence to the infallible teachings of the Stud Book; and the employment of the best brains and knowledge that are available. In the case of. the Aga Khan it can be said truthfully that he has succeeded chiefly through his own intelligent endeavours. He listened carefully to what successful breeders had to Say and studied. their methods; he bought the best grasslands he could obtain in Ireland whereon to establish his first stud; he employed the most highly qualified men; and then set about to acquire the blood which, down through the ages, has given England her most notable thoroughbreds. Carrying his principle through from the primary side of racing, that is breeding, to the secondary side, the racing of horses, he got the best men to train his horses, | and he engaged the leading | jockeys to ride them. } Love Of Horses I know it is easy to say that the man of wealth can do whatever he pleases where money is the primary factor. But there is something far deeper than that in the Aga Khan’s patronage of the Turf. There is a genuine love of his horses, and the ambition to breed the best from:the best. . Some men succeed in their own classic winners. Many more bid to do so by purchase, usually in the yearling market. A

few aim at the elusive target from the double-barrelled process of preeding and buying where the pull of the long purse makes itself very apparent. This was what the Aga Khan ‘did in the early days of his racing in England, but now

that he Is established as ’ one of the world’s biggest © breeders, he restricts his purchases to lines of blood which he desires to introduce into any of his three studs, which are situated in Ireland, England and France. However, to go into racing on the scale that the Aga Khan has-he has invested more than three-quarters of a million. sterling in it-is not alone a matter of possessing the necesSary riches, The outlook and the vision must be big and illuminating. He came inio racing not alone to win races, but to breed the winners of the biggest races and show that it could be done by close study after the foundations had been intelligently iaid. There was ambition behind what appeared to many at the time aS merely a vulgar. advertisement and an easy

means Of absorbing surplus money. That, however, is just a paltry sneer at a man of very great ability and exceptional personality who has used his very special gifts as a linguist and scholar to serve Eng: land and the Empire. A Sound Start The Aga Khan’s racing career commenced in England only in _ 1922, but he had raced horses in India since 1904... He was induced to launch out in racing in England by the late Lord Wavertree, a close personal friend, a man who achieved enormous success aS an owner-breeder up till

the time he gave his Tully Stud in ‘Ireland to the nation. . Lord Wavertree was truly one of fortune’s favourites on the Turf, a real personality of an unusual kind. He .¢ed his faith in horses" horoscopes. The Aga Khan followed Lord Wavertree’s methods closely, except that he left the stars to perform their own peculiar functions, and in place of the horoscope he pledged unswerving faith to the English Stud Book, A few years after the Great War tLe Hon. George Lambton bought up a number of high-priced yearlings at Doncaster and elsewhere, and it soon became known that it was the Aga Khan’s money he was spending as the prelude to a big spiash on the English Turf. Ffe began on princely lines; it was his way, and, of course, behina the impulse was a purse of limitless wealth. Results came irimediately, and as these early purchases began to -prove themselves on the Tu:z?, the Aga Khan retired them to _ the stud. He laid sound foundations for his breeding onc>~‘ions, as was proved by the fact that he won the Derby three times in six years and two of the winners were of his own breeding. The wisdom of his policy has been illustrated very forcibly in the past few years. Fancy one owner filling first, second, fourth and fifth places in the St. Leger, the supreme staying test for classic three-year-olds. That was what he achieved in 1932, when Firdaussi, Dastar, Udaipur and Taj Kasra almost had the race to themselves. It is not recorded whether the inconsiderate interloper Silvermere, who ran third, slunk off the Doncaster Town Moor blushing with shame for spoiling such a party. Such a feat has never been accomplished before in the histo1;- of racing, and probably never will be again. The Aga Khan possesses a genuine desire. to do what lies in his power to maintain the breed of the British thoroughbred. He is a. nonbetting owner, and declines to have his horses tried against each other in their training work. He says he gets his greatest thrill by making these discoveries in actual racing. That is why stable plans have collapsed at times when the least fancied of two of his runners has succeeded at the expense of the more favoured one, This sportsman has performed a real service to the breeding industry, and even here in New Zealand we are deriving benefit from his extensive activities. ‘