Horse Racing Ireland paid tribute to the late Aga Khan, saying that Irish racing and breeding ‘will be forever in his debt’.

The Aga Khan's bloodstock empire was built on homebreds, although he infused new blood along the way by acquiring the late Francois Dupre's stock in 1977, and that of the late Marcel Boussac in 1978 and Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2005, reaping rich rewards with stallion Linamix among the last-named batch of purchases.