EXPENSIVE HOBBY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22166, 20 July 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

EXPENSIVE HOBBY

BREEDING BLOODSTOCK THE AGA KHAN'S AMBITION "BETTING IS NOT RACING" The Aga Khan, owner and breeder of the Derby winning wonder horse Bahrain and of the greatest string of racehorses in the world, has been telling me of his work to produce the finest strain of thoroughbreds in the history of racing, writes Mr. Sydney Morrell in the Sunday Express, London. His stud the finest known to France and Britain —numbers between 150 and 200 horses. Tliev are probably worth about £1,500,000/ He had two great objects in nund when, soon after the war, lie came into racing in Britain. By securing the best yearlings that money could buy—spending as much as 58,000 guineas for five in one year —he found classic winners and laid the foundations of a stud that could rule out all necessity for expensive yearling buying. He has won classic races*. Ho has more than once headed the list of winning owners. Ho has been elected an honorary member of the most exclusive of sporting clubs—tho Jockey Club. His winnings last year were £61,957. Once it was said ho refused an offer of £20,000 for a half share in his classic colt Umidwar, when it had run only once and won. He has won the Derby twice. And what is more important, his ambition to become a leading winning breeder has been achieved. Real Object of Racing

" The object of all racing should bo breeding, and tho improvement of breeding," he said. "Every horse II have bought as a yearling was purchased with a view to its potentialities at the stud. I had many failures—as any man must who experiments on new lines. " Many thousands of pounds were spent on horses that eventually proved worthless from a breeding point of view. But others were successful. Look at Bahrain. He is the son of Blandford, out of Friar's Daughter. Ho won all his five races last season. " As for tho foals of the future . . . it is as difficult as to forecast the future of the franc. There are so many factors to be taken into consideration. Also my plans are not yet ready for next season. But two foals' which have a very promising future according to their present performances are Sadruddin and Dharampur. They are worth watching. As for the future of Bahram, I cannot yet say. His value has risen from £IO.OOO to more than £70,000 commercially. Possibly I could sell him for £IOO,OOO. His* stud fee would probably be between £4OO and £500." One point of interest I learned was that Friar's Daughter, the dam of Bahram, will bo nominated for mating with Windsor Lad, Mr. Martin Benson's horse which won the Coronation Cup recently. "Windsor Lad, like Bahram, is the" son of Blandford He won both' last year's Derby and St. Leger, and the progeny of a horse such as this and Friar's Daughter seemed to be something about which the Aga Khan was enthusiastic.

Great Sums Expended And then he told me something about the cost of racing. It has been a costly liobbv for him. He must have spent no less than £750,000 on bloodstock and training. But on the other side of the scale, he has won every race worth winning on the British Turf. His winnings in Britain and France total about £500.000. He has thirty of the finest brood mares in the world in the Curragh. and they produce on an average twenty-five yearlings a year. These mav be worth anything from £SOOO to £IO.OOO. according to the state of the market —and, as he told me, there is always an outside price for the best of anything. " Even so," he added. " to be a big owner you must either be a millionaire or keep stallions. The only other way to make money is to bet —and then you ■nay just as easily lose. I don t bet. 'Jetting isn't racing; it is gambling."