A Journey Into the Memoirs of Aga Khan III and an Unrepeatable Era in Racing

Carlo Zuccoli invites us to revisit unforgettable moments in world horse racing through the eyes of an illustrious breeder and owner

By Carlo Zuccoli

"The difference between the two clubs, one in Bombay and the other in Calcutta, is that in one they allow neither dogs nor Indians; in the other they do allow dogs."

Two or three years ago, a great guy and very good friend, Paul Binfield, representative for Paddy Power at various racecourses across Great Britain, gave me an extraordinary gift: a copy of The Memoirs of the Aga Khan, published by Cassell & Co. Ltd. in London in 1954.

Since that day, the book has remained on my desk, and every so often, I open it once more. Or rather, I return to re-read a few of its pages.

The foreword bears the signature of none other than William Somerset Maugham.

And it was precisely that giant of literature who, to set the reader in the atmosphere of the era and the world of His Highness, wrote the sentence that opens this article, recalling a comment made to him by the Crown Prince of Hyderabad.

In Chapter 4 of the book, Nine Crowded Years (1900-1909), Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, better known as Aga Khan III (1877-1957), recounts: "On one occasion, during an important Court ceremony, the late Maharaja of Rajpipla appeared before the King without wearing—as etiquette required—the collar of one of his decorations, simply because he found it uncomfortable. The King was annoyed and made his displeasure abundantly clear, but Queen Mary quickly made a conciliatory gesture toward the young man, as if to say, 'Don't worry, it will pass.' And so it did: the King ultimately forgave him."

I mention Vijayasinhji Chhatrasinhji (1890-1951), Maharaja of Rajpipla, for a very simple reason: I had the good fortune to know his son, His Highness Prince Rajsingh—known to everyone simply as Pippi—as well as his daughter, Princess Premila. Their mother was a Scottish woman of extraordinary beauty.

Pippi was a true gentleman. A writer, he contributed from France to The Racehorse magazine when Tony Stafford was its editor-in-chief. In earlier times he was a heavy punter and, above all, an extraordinary connoisseur of world racing.

He traveled to all the major international events.

I saw him several times at Ascot, impeccably dressed, moving along the line of bookmakers to place substantial bets. He was very thin, but impossible to mistake. And almost always, very close to him, was Phil Bull, founder of Timeform, moving in a remarkably similar fashion.

It was Pippi himself who told me that it had been his father, the Maharaja of Rajpipla—winner of the 1934 Epsom Derby with Windsor Lad (Blandford)—who first introduced Aga Khan III to the world of horse racing.

In one way or another, that universe will never exist again.

I must say that when Kirsten Rausing spoke to me about Mowerina (Scottish Chief), about Darbhanga (Dastur)—half-brother to Nasrullah (Bold Ruler), both out of the extraordinary Mumtaz Begum (Blenheim)—about the Swedish race named in honor of Mowerina, the 1000 Guineas known as the Mowerina Löp, and how Mowerina's grandfather had won it with More Mahal (Darbhanga), I immediately opened the Memoirs to look for more information on Darbhanga, his sire Dastur (Solario), and his dam Friar's Daughter (Friar Marcus).

I discovered something truly surprising. Unbelievable as it may seem, Darbhanga finished second in all three legs of the English Triple Crown in 1945.

Has any other horse ever accomplished such a feat?

Both Darbhanga and his sire Dastur were bred by His Highness the Aga Khan. Yet, curiously enough, neither is mentioned in his memoirs.

Friar's Daughter was bred by Colonel F. Lort-Phillips. Her second dam was Concertina (St. Simon), whose daughter Plucky Liege (Spearmint) produced three foundational names in the history of the Stud Book: Sir Gallahad III (Teddy), winner of the French 2000 Guineas and later an extraordinary stallion in the United States; Admiral Drake (Craig an Eran), winner of the Grand Prix de Paris and subsequently leading sire in France; and Bois Roussel(Vatout), an outstanding sire in both England and Ireland.

The great-great-grandmother of Concertina was Miss Agnes (Birdcatcher), third dam of the undefeated Ormonde(Bend Or), winner of the English Triple Crown, and fourth dam of the unforgettable Sceptre (Persimmon).

As a foal at foot, Friar's Daughter was sold for 120 guineas to Mrs. E. M. Plummer, who resold her a year later to the Aga Khan for 250 guineas. Most likely, His Highness was drawn to her due to her close inbreeding to the great St. Simon.

Friar's Daughter was not a brilliant racehorse, but she produced 11 winners. Among them was none other than Bahram (Blandford), winner of the English Triple Crown, bred by and carrying the colors of the Aga Khan. As I noted earlier, she was also the dam of Dastur. And yet, despite such production, she too fails to merit a single reference in His Highness's memoirs.

There is another passage in the book that deserves to be quoted, if only to point out a major error. Referring to trainers on page 199, the Aga Khan wrote: "Today there is an excess of pampering, too much protective cotton wool. As almost all trainers follow current trends, it matters little, but I believe that had any of them been forced to face the tough men of the past or Madame Tesio (!?!), they would have fared very poorly indeed. The explanation usually given is that in the old days many horses ended up broken down in training."

As I have always said, history cannot be forgotten.

The people who built—and those who continue to build—the history of horse racing deserve to be remembered forever. Fortunately, there are countless books dedicated to that legacy, and setting out to find them is an endeavor as thrilling as it is enriching.

It is also worth remembering the words with which the Aga Khan himself opens his memoirs: "Life is a great and noble calling, not a mean and groveling existence that we must simply endure as best we can, but a high and sublime destiny."

The quote belongs to William Ewart Gladstone, although the Aga Khan makes no mention of the author...