The Queen is hosting a dinner party in honour of billionaire racehorse owner the Aga Khan.

Senior members of the Royal Family will attend the Buckingham Palace dinner on Monday for the long-term friend of the Queen.

The Queen, 82, and the Aga Khan, 71, are both ardent fans of horse racing and in the past they have watched the sport together at Royal Ascot.

The Aga Khan was the owner of Shergar, the Derby-winning racehorse who was kidnapped from his Irish stud farm in 1983 and never seen again.

He is also the Imam of the world’s 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims and a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Last year he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his succession to the title held by his grandfather.

The Aga Khan is coming to the end of a seven-day visit to the UK held to mark the milestone.

In 2005 he became one of six people given the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for his efforts improving living conditions in the developed world.

His Aga Khan Development Network is a group of agencies working in health, education, culture and rural and economic development, in 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, south and central Asia, and the Middle East.

Source: http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiy91NzXml88V16tjbxxYXn-2fvw

More Related Information


  Posted in         Ismaili News

Tony Arrold | July 07, 2008

HIS Highness the Aga Khan, arguably the world’s most successful thoroughbred breeder-owner of the past 50 years, is to join Australia’s breeders in the new season.

A joint venture has been struck between the Aga Khan Studs and Arrowfield Group, which runs the major Hunter Valley operation the Arrowfield Stud at Scone, NSW.

The venture is already under way with six mares from the Aga’s European farms currently in quarantine after arriving in Australia one week ago.

The six mares include a half-sister to Zarkava, a three-year-old filly some sound judges rank as potentially the best filly to carry the Aga’s familiar green and red colours.

The unbeaten winner of the French Oaks at her most recent start, Zarkava is the current favourite for the Group I Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m), Europe’s weight-for-age championship, in France in early October.

From September 1, the six mares will be mated with selected stallions on Arrowfield Stud with the resultant progeny to be offered at select yearling sales in Australia.

Arrowfield’s varied selection of stallions includes the nation’s most expensive, Redoute’s Choice, the reigning champion Flying Spur and the Chilean sensation Hussonet, sire of Weekend Hussler, officially the world’s best sprinting three-year-old.

An agreement signed last week by the Aga Khan Studs and Arrowfield has been two years in the making, according to Arrowfield chief John Messara.

“In agreeing to this joint venture, His Highness has left a clear message that Australia is well and truly on the world stage in the thoroughbred business,” Messara said.

“There was a time not all that long ago that Australia would not have rated a second thought.

“But now look at the melting pot we have here – Sheik Mohammed and his vast Darley operation, Coolmore with the owner’s son (Tom Magnier) at the helm of the Australian operation and now one of the most significant figures of breeding for the past 50 years.”

Not for the first time is Arrowfield mounting an international venture.

In its infancy, in the 1980s, it had a partnership with the late Robert Sangster which yielded no less an industry dividend than the multiple champion sire Zabeel.

In the early 1990s, it joined Coolmore to secure and stand Danehill – and the world will never see another dual hemisphere champion like him.

More recently, Arrowfield has had joint ventures with the late Sheik Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum, senior brother of the ruling family of Dubai. Together, Arrowfield and Sheik Maktoum’s Gainsborough Stud bred, raised and put to public auction the multiple Group I winning, multi-millionairess Miss Finland (by Redoute’s Choice). Arrowfield bought her back to race and now to breed from.

At the same time, an ongoing business relationship with Japan’s premier stud, the Yoshida family’s Shadai Farms, led to a breeding joint venture with Katsumi Yoshida.

Arrowfield-Yoshida bred and sold Weekend Hussler, multiple Group I winner of nine of his 11 starts and almost $2.4 million in stakes.

Arrowfield will continue to deal with Georges Rimaud and Pat Downes, managers of the Aga’s vast French and Irish farm operations, in relation to the service and maintenance of the trail-blazing sextet of mares.

“Arrowfield will put the stallion recommendations for the mares, but Georges and Pat will also have a big input because they know these families so well,” Messara said.

“The joint venture will be reviewed every year but we hope the numbers will increase by the years.”

At this point, the venture embraces only a southern season with no discussion raised yet on serving mares to northern time.

The Aga Khan, 71, on Friday celebrates his golden jubilee as the spiritual head of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims.

Shergar, the 10-length winner of the English Derby, is the Aga’s best known runner – but one of only a list of classic and major winners that would run the length of the home straight at Longchamp, the premier track in France where the Aga has his racing headquarters.

Another of the Aga’s English Derby winners was the recently deceased Kahyasi. Australian racing acknowledges Kahyasi as the sire of the Aga-bred Karasi, who found his way to Australia to continue racing and to then gain international fame as a three-times winner of the world’s richest jumps race, the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23978030-5013405,00.html

More Related Information


  Posted in         Ismaili News

“In a Knowledge Society, the most productive investments we can make are
investments in education.”

His Highness the Aga Khan, Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 2008

CALGARY, July 2 /CNW Telbec/ – High-achieving students from the Ismaili Muslim Community across Canada will gather at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Calgary on Saturday, July 5th (6.30PM) to learn how participation in today’s Knowledge Society is essential for individual and community progress.

The Honorable Dave Hancock, Minister of Education of Alberta, will be the guest of honour and Dr. Tom Kessinger, Deputy Chairman, Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), will deliver the keynote address.

The occasion is the inaugural Canadian Ismaili Students Total Achievement Recognition (I-STAR) Awards Gala which aims to promote, recognize and celebrate excellence achieved in all areas of endeavor by top calibre Canadian Ismaili Muslim youth at the junior high, secondary, and post-secondary levels. This year’s National awards will recognize the achievements of 150 youth from across Canada who have been selected at regional I-STAR events in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. This high calibre awards ceremony encourages students from Grade 9 to Post-Secondary to strive for and achieve excellence in academics, community service and leadership, athletics, arts and humanities, and science and technology.

“The theme of this first Canadian I-STAR Awards Gala is The Knowledge Society” said Shaukat Jiwa, Chairperson of the Aga Khan Education Board for Canada. “We recognize that we live in an age where human intellect, imagination and ingenuity have become the currency of choice and one that highlights the necessity of lifelong learning and the search for excellence. We hope that our youth will become contributors in the 21st century Knowledge
Society and will use this knowledge in a manner that is consistent with the ethics and values of our faith.”

The Canadian I-STAR Awards Gala is a national initiative commemorating the Golden Jubilee of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan as the Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.

The Ismaili Muslims are a community of ethnically and culturally diverse peoples living in over 25 countries around the world, united in their allegiance to the Aga Khan as the 49th hereditary Imam and direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Further information on the Ismaili Muslim Community may be found at www.theismaili.org.

For further information: Ms. Sameera Sereda, (403) 604-2770; Mr. Al-Noor Nenshi Nathoo, (403) 714-7436

More Related Information


  Posted in         Announcements, Islamic Articles, Ismaili News