Zarkava

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Super filly Zarkava, ridden by Christophe Soumillon, stormed to victory in the $5.58 million (3.14 million pound) Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday, the world's richest race on turf.

The 13-8 favourite, overcoming fears about the softish ground, took up the running with 300 metres to go and quickly put the issue beyond doubt. She has now won all her seven races.

Trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre for the Aga Khan, Zarkava became the first filly to win the Arc since Urban Sea in 1993, the emphatic manner of her success evoking memories of the great Allez France in 1974.

The runner-up spot went for the second year running to Youmzain (12-1), ridden by Richard Hills for English trainer Mick Channon. The colt made late ground but was held by two lengths.

Third place in the 16-strong field resulted in a dead-heat between German raider It's Gino, a 150-1 outsider, and Soldier of Fortune, a 9-2 chance trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien.
There had been concern on the morning of the race that rain might soften the ground too much for Zarkava to take her chance but strong winds helped dry the course and the filly made light of her task.

De Royer-Dupre told French TV Canal Plus: "She had to come out of the pack and she did it well. She has great class. I've always known she would have great class."

He added: "When I saw the filly in the parade ring I felt confident. She can be a little bit nervous, she's a bit of a maniac. Winning this is really important to me."

DWELT BADLY

In her Arc warm-up race last month, the Prix Vermeille, Zarkava had dwelt badly in the starting stalls but still blazed her way to success.

There was no repeat of such trouble at the start on Sunday. The filly, taking on colts for the first time in her career, broke lively from stall one to become the first horse to triumph in the Arc from that position since 1964.

Soumillon restrained his partner in the early stages before weaving his way through the field and taking command.

He said: "It's inexplicable. I did not even have to use the whip. I've never seen such a finish in my life. It's the greatest day of my life."

The Aga Khan said: "We were worried about the draw so we did not give any instructions to Christophe. This really is the apogee of decades of breeding. In the racing world for my family this was one of the most important moments."

Hills, partnering Youmzain who was just headed by Dylan Thomas in last year's Arc, said: "He ran a fine race. If anything it was better than last year."

Zarkava quickly earned a quote as low as 2-1 for next year's Arc. Her owner, trainer and jockey had also teamed up in 2003 to win the big race on Dalakhani.

(Writing by Dave Thompson, editing by Justin Palmer)

1-Belgian jockey Christophe Soumillon reacts after crossing the finish line on French horse Zarkava to win the 87th Arc de Triomphe horsing race,the world's richest race on turf, at Longchamp Racecourse near Paris October 5, 2008.​

 

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On Sunday, Zarkava will put her unbeaten record on the line in attempting to become the Aga Khan's fourth winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, recognised as the pinnacle of achievement for middle-distance horses in Europe.

The Aga has raced some pretty special fillies in his time, including Aliysa, whose disqualification from the 1989 Oaks led to the owner boycotting British racing for some four years, but Zarkava looks like the best of them all.

Her stunning display in the Prix Vermeille over the Arc course and distance two weeks ago was her sixth in succession, following her three-lengths win in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in June. Said not to have pleased her trainer, Alain de Royer-Dupré, in her last piece of work before the Vermeille, Zarkava showed that she is a little bit of a madam - or madame - by coming out of the stalls several lengths behind the others, briefly looking as though she would refuse to race. Those antics meant she had to come from last to first in the home straight, something that should not have been easy, even after a strong gallop. The way she swept down the outside was a joy to behold and it appears that her temperament is the main obstacle standing between her and victory next week.

As wide as his racing web stretches, it is not for horses that the Aga Khan is best known, for he is revered by around 20 million Ismaili Muslims spread over about 25 countries. Considered a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammed and their 49th Imam, or spiritual leader, his interpretations on matters of religion are adhered to by the Ismailis.

Many Ismailis pay a proportion of their income to the Aga, funding institutes such as the Aga Khan Development Network, which backs cultural, educational and humanitarian projects worldwide - a $1 billion grant for improved housing in northern Pakistan being one of this year's initiatives.

Not long after the Aga inherited his title from his grandfather - his playboy father Aly Khan was passed over for the succession as Imam - at the age of 20 in 1957, he was forced to take up his father and grandfather's racing and breeding interests as a result of his father's death in a car crash.

His grandfather had won no fewer than 17 British Classics, including the Derby five times and the Triple Crown with Bahram in 1935, yet the young Aga admitted that: 'I wasn't in the least interested in horse racing, but my father's establishment was more than just a sport, it was a huge institution.'

There were more than 100 staff and nearly 300 horses to consider. 'I waited for six months and turned it over in my mind and in the end decided I could reorganise my life to include horse racing,' he said.

Not only did he enjoy the racing and the breeding, he was good at it, producing the winners of countless big races. He jointly holds the record for the most Derby wins - four - by an owner-breeder and the names of his top horses roll off the tongues of followers of the sport, including Sinndar, Dalakhani, Daylami, Shahrastani, Blushing Groom and, most emotive of all, Shergar, the runaway 1981 Derby winner, whose stud career - and life - was cut short when he was kidnapped in 1983.

When Aliysa lost her Oaks win after failing a drugs test, many people took the owner's decision to pull out of British racing as a toys-out-of-the-pram moment. That does not appear to have been the case. The source of the camphor in Aliysa's system, found in such small quantities that it could have had no influence on her performance, was never established.

Alarmed by what he perceived as a flawed testing regime and worried about the damage to his standing as a religious leader, the Aga took his horses away until he was satisfied, in 1994, that drug-testing methods had improved.

However, while he still has the occasional runner in Britain (five over the past two years), he no longer has them trained here. He stopped having horses with Luca Cumani in 2000 after two failed drug tests for the painkiller Bute. They had been treated with the medication to recover from ailments but traces were found to be still in their systems after they raced. Cumani accepted the blame but, for the Aga, it was two strikes and out.

There have been other, less public, separations. Sir Michael Stoute and André Fabre are two who no longer train for him after, in Fabre's case, 'operational disagreements.'

To many brought up under western culture, the Aga's sensitivity with regard to his image as a religious leader does not sit happily with the trappings of his wealth - his yachts and power boats in Sardinia, his chateau near Chantilly, his racehorses, and his position on the world's rich lists - from £500m to £1bn, depending on which publication you believe.

Yet that, according to the Aga himself, would be to miss the point. He believes that 'in Islam, worldly goods don't have the fascination they do in the West. It does not expect its true believers to live as beggars.'

The horses of the Aga Khan, like those of his father and his grandfather, have lit up European racing and the operation has stood the toughest test, that of time. Zarkava shows that, even after 48 years at the empire's helm, there are still more jewels to behold in the green silks with the red epaulets.​

 

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زارکاوا اسب سال کارتیر

زارکاوا در مسابقات کارتیر 2008 که روز دوشنبه 27 آبان برگزار شد، به عنوان اسب سال کارتیر نامگذاری شد.

این اسب 3ساله باداشتن پیروزیهای مختلف از میادین مسابقه بازنشسته و برای اصلاح نژاد استفاده می شود.

زارکاوا مسابقاتی از جمله بریدرز کاپ ،مسابقات بین المللی جادمونت ،مرملید و غیره را با پیروزی پشت سرگذاشته است.

زارکاوا که توسط الاین رویر دوپر آموزشی دیده، به عنوان کره اسب 3 ساله هم این جایزه را به خود اختصاص داده بود، درحالی که همین جایزه به اسب نریان 3 ساله بنام نیواپروچ که توسط جیم بوگلر آموزش داده شده بود، اختصاص یافت.

قابل ذکر است زارکاوا امسال پنج پیروزی متوالی را در کارنامه خود دارد.

 

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5.5 میلیون دلار جایزه برای یک کره اسب

زارکاوا با پیروزی در مسابقات یکشنبه پریکس آرک تریامف فرانسه، اولین کره صاحب جایزه 5.46 میلیون دلاری از سال 1993 تا کنون شد.

این اسب رکورد خود را با پیروزی در این مسابقه به ثبت رساند.

این کره اسب 3 ساله توسط الاین رویر- دوپر آموزش دیده و سوارکارش کرستوف سوملین می باشد.

این مسابقات در مسیر 2400 متری میدان اسبدوانی شهر لانگچاپ فرانسه برگزار شد، زارکاوا با برتری بر 15 رقیب خود توانست برنده و قهرمان مسابقه شود.

یومزاین که در مسابقات سال 2007 دوم شده بود، به همراه اسب دیگری به نام جینو مشترکا دوم و سولجر او فورچون سوم شد.