Pierre Gasnier

It would have been understandable had Pierre Gasnier felt daunted by the task at hand when he succeeded Georges Rimaud as manager of the French studs for the Aga Khan family at the start of 2025. But then, so eventful a year did it out turn to be, it was probably for the best that he didn't have much chance to stop and weigh up the enormity of his new role. For a start, this week brought with it the one-year anniversary of the death of His Highness Aga Khan...

Yesterday's piece with a selection of leaders in the French bloodstock community concluded with a teaser regarding the future stallion career of Daryz, the winner of last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for Francis-Henri Graffard and the Aga Khan Studs. Of course, there is a lot of water to pass under the bridge, and more Group 1s to be won, before a decision has to be made, but it will be a conversation all the same as to whether Daryz takes up residence at the Aga Khan family's Haras...

So much that is good about the French breeding industry was showcased over the course of two days last week, not least the resilience of its practitioners, an oft-heralded quality when speaking to those at the coalface during the 2026 edition of La Route des Etalons. Like so many other leading racing jurisdictions, France is currently facing headwinds that make the pursuit of breeding racehorses, and/or owning them, a less attractive option than in years gone by. Then, in May last year, France Galop announced a €20.3 million reduction in...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE -- For the second time in as many years, the young team at Consign Ltd is bidding to close out the sales season in style when high-class filly Half Sovereign is offered as a wildcard during Saturday's session of the Arqana Vente d'Elevage. When the TDN cameras visited Harriet Jones and Chloe Battam in July last year, the newly-founded Consign Ltd was preparing to get the ball rolling with a bumper draft numbering 18 horses at the Tattersalls July Sale. Then, less than five months later, Jones and...

"She has played her part," says Pierre Gasnier with some understatement as a gaggle of visitors to the Aga Khan Studs gazes at Zarkava, now enjoying her retirement at the age of 20. With Thoroughbreds, it is the race records that separate the great from the good from the downright ordinary. Zarkava's stands her apart from the crowd by some wide margin. Seven wins, seven runs, with her parting gift on the track to her owner-breeder being her sensational Arc victory. Seventeen years have rolled on since then, and the...

The first foals for European champion three-year-old Vadeni (Fr) have been reported by the Aga Khan Studs, who also welcomed one of the first arrivals for Group 2-winning miler Erevann (Fr) recently when a bay filly out of the G1 Hong Kong Vase winner Daryakana (Fr) (Selkirk) was born on February 11. The foal is a half-sister to five black-type performers--including the G1 Prix Ganay winner and sire Dariyan (Fr)--and is described as "a beauty" by French studs manager Pierre Gasnier. He added, "[She's] a very attractive filly, with plenty...

After a quarter century at the helm of the French division of the Aga Khan Studs, Georges Rimaud will step down from that role at the end of December, making this Deauville December Sale his last. Rimaud leaves the stud stronger than ever, with four homebred sons standing at the farm, including the best sire in France, Siyouni (Fr), the best young sire in France in Zarak (Fr), and two promising newcomers, Vadeni (Fr) and Erevann (Fr). We surprised Rimaud as he was having lunch in the stud's traditional marquee...

Georges Rimaud, the director of the Aga Khan Studs in France for a quarter-century, will retire at the end of 2024. He will be succeeded by Pierre Gasnier, who has assisted Rimaud for the past two years. Trained at the Irish National Stud in 1980, Rimaud worked at Spendthrift Farm and later managed Hurricane Hall--both in Kentucky--and also managed Virginia's Audley Farm. Named manager of Haras d'Etreham in 1991, he joined the Aga Khan Studs in June of 2000. Since then, horses carrying His Highness The Aga Khan's distinctive silks...