It says much about how the quality of the Aga Khan's on-course representation in Ireland has diminished that last week's developments generated so few ripples.

Timarida's globe-trotting exploits in the mid-90s and the dizzy heights scaled by Sinndar, Alamshar and Azamour in the early part of the 2000s are a distant memory by now. While it is four years since John Oxx last had a Group One winner for the princely figurehead of one of the world's most enduring thoroughbred breeding legacies, the concentration of his quality resources has increasingly been transferring to France for much longer than that.

Since Oxx saddled Azamour to an emphatic King George VI & QE II Stakes victory in 2005, Kastoria and Alandi are the only top-level performers that he has had for the Aga Khan. Relatively speaking, as stayers that excelled between a mile-and-six-furlongs and two-and-a-half miles, those two were major-league performers only in the broadest sense.

Massiyn's last-gasp defeat in the 2012 Irish St Leger for Mick Halford falls into the same inferior category. Had he managed to hold off Royal Diamond, it would have been a famous first Group One triumph for the excellent Shane 'Dusty' Foley.

It would also have been a stellar feat for Halford to get a handicapper to win a Group One, because that's essentially what Massiyn was. Had he prevailed, it would have meant that the Aga Khan's last three Group One wins in Ireland came via the St Leger, which is a critical indictment of the horses that the revered Gilltown Stud owner keeps here right now.

Alain de Royer-Dupre always got a greater proportion of the Aga Khan's premium stock than Oxx did, but the division of riches has never been quite so skewed. Maybe that is to do with the fact that the Aga Khan spends a lot of his time in France, or that there are particularly attractive incentives and premiums for breeders over there.

The issue of having to contend with Ballydoyle's behemoth on a daily basis here may also be a contributing factor. Whatever the reasons, a French ticket that now comprises De Royer-Dupre, Jean-Claude Rouget and Mikel Delzangles has been spoilt of late.

By contrast, the Aga Khan has deserted his former English-based patrons completely. Like Oxx, Luca Cumani and Michael Stoute trained Epsom Derby winners for him – Kahyasi (Cumani), Shergar and Sharastani (Stoute) – but Cumani was excommunicated following a dispute over medication in 2000, and Stoute has been surplus to requirements since 2006.

IMPROVEMENT

In that context, it is at least a positive that the Aga Khan is increasing his training roster here by pledging to support Dermot Weld. However, it would be hugely welcome if the policy change were to coincide with a perceptible improvement in the type and standard of horse that one of Irish Flat racing's most loyal patrons sends this way.

More Read:http://www.independent.ie/sport/horse-racing/aga-khan-changes-reflect-an-uneven-division-of-riches-29544362.html