The Aga Khan is to remove his string of 30 horses from Luca Cumani's Newmarket stables, it was announced last night.

The Aga Khan's stud manager Pat Downes confirmed that the horses were likely to be distributed among the stables of John Oxx, Michael Stoute and Alain de Royer-Dupre. Daliapour, runner-up in last year's Irish Derby, was one of a number of talented older horses Cumani had hoped to be training for the Aga Khan next season.

But that was dependent on the owner being satisfied with procedures at Cumani's stables following the drug test failure of his colt Zalal.

In October, Cumani was fined a total of £1,500 by the Jockey Club's disciplinary committee over the Zalal case, having been fined £750 last January over a positive test on Sharera.