Nakaaya delivered a Group first for former Darley shuttler Tiger Hill in Australia on Friday night. The Mick Price trained mare grabbed a G2 victory in the MVRC Sunline Stakes but not before she survived a protest from runner-up Lady Lynette.
Nakaaya (4m Tiger Hill – Duchess Talaria by Marwina) was a $60,000 buy from Carramar Park at the 2008 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling sale.
Originally prepared by Singapore bound trainer Cliff Brown, she races for Greenwich Stud’s Greg Perry and has now won 5 times in 11 starts for earnings of $243,000.
Perry was also a partner in Price-trained Group 1 winning mare Bel Mer.
Nakaaya’s dam Duchess Talaria won twice at Canterbury and second dam Sagala (Imperial Prince) is a half-sister to the dams of Australian stakes winners Silver Flyer, The Mikado, Mustard and Valuate.
Third dam Princess Talaria (Dignitas) was a G1 winner of the VATC One Thousand Guineas and fourth dam Winged Beauty (Port Vista) was a brilliant stakes winning sprinter for Rosehill trainer Ray Guy in the late 1960s.
Dignitas (Round Table) arrived in Australia amid much fanfare in 1970. He was imported by American breeder Ferd Calvin to stand at Dawson Stud on the Hawkesbury River. Calvin pioneered bringing USA stallions to Australia and scored an instant hit with Bluescope. Four years later, Dignitas arrived at Dawson Stud and he sired 11 stakes winners although Princess Talaria was the only Group 1 winner among them.
Dawson Stud has gone through several name changes since then from Trans Media Park to Woodlands and now Darley.
Darley shuttled Danehill horse Tiger Hill to Australia until 2008 but it didn’t work out. His oldest are four year-olds and to date there have been 32 individual winners in Australia at a 36% strike rate.
Apart from the Sunline Stakes winner, his only other Aussie black-type galloper is Perth gelding Yabigorse. He was a Listed winner of the 2010 T J Smith Stakes at Ascot.
Tiger Hill was a G1 winner of the 1998 German 2000 Guineas and Darley repatriated him from Dalham Hall to Gestut Fahrhof for the current northern breeding season.