WHILE the team had to watch as their star three-year-old Tahiyra, now retired, was a game third in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, those on the Aga Khan Studs could gain some consolation from the fine win by Big Rock (Rock Of Gibraltar).

Sold in utero by the Aga Khan Studs for €72,000 to his owner-breeder Yeguada Centurion, Big Rock had all the credentials to win this feature, even though he had not won beyond Group 3 class in France before Saturday.

However, this year the three-year-old colt, the first produce of the unraced Hardiyna (Sea The Stars), was runner-up in three Group 1 races, the Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby (to Ace Impact), Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (to Sauterne) and the Prix Jacques Le Marois (to Inspiral).

Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) is one of the best stallions in the world, and the Gilltown Stud-based sire is quickly emerging as an equally influential broodmare sire.

Big Rock is the fourth Group 1 winner out of a Sea The Stars mare, joining Nassau Stakes winner Al Husn, dual St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov, and the Grand Prix de Paris hero Onesto.

Hardiyna is the first foal herself of Harasiya (Pivotal), and that mare won the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes at two and ran third to Sky Lantern in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes for trainer John Oxx.

Harasiya was covered this year by Space Blues (Dubawi) after foaling a filly in April by Pinatubo (Shamardal). She is the dam of three winners, and one of a pair to have done so in 2023 is Hamsiyann (Lope De Vega), and he sold for 250,000gns in the summer.

Great lines

As you might guess from the names so far, this is one of His Highness the Aga Khan’s great female lines.

Harasiya is a one of four stakes winners out of the Group 3 Athasi Stakes winner Hazariya (Xaar). She was sold for €400,000 in the year that her best offspring, the dual Derby winner Harzand (Sea The Stars), was a yearling, and two years later she was sold again, this time for 2,000,000gns.

If you want to get into this family, the Aga Khan Studs are offering a couple of chances to do so at the Goffs November Sale. There they will offer the dual winner Hazalaya (Siyouni), and the placed three-year-old Hasiyna (Tamayuz).

One of the most successful horses trained by Aidan O’Brien in Ballydoyle, Rock Of Gibraltar (Danehill) won two juvenile Group 1 races, and the following season added five more. He died last year and Big Rock is his 17th Group 1 winner.