Winless in six starts since capturing the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes nearly twelve months ago, the three-year-old Lord Kanaloa colt Tagaloa was back to somewhere near his best in Saturday's Group III CS Hayes Stakes at Flemington.
Carrying the colours of his future home, Yulong Stud, the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained colt carried his top-weight of 59.5 kgs under Luke Currie to defeat the Deep Field colt Aysar by a length with three-quarters of a length to the rallying Savabeel colt Mo'unga.
"‘Tags is back, what a relief,” Young said.
“ He (Currie) gave him a peach of a ride and it worked out perfectly."
Young said it was a great hit-out for the Group 1 Australian Guineas.
“In a couple of weeks time he is going to meet half the same field two kilos (better) at the set weights<" she said
“So it’s really nice going forward that he’s keeping his value. He’s got that Group III win as a three-year-old.
“I think Mr Zhang, Yulong, will be happy. All the owners, they’ll be at home watching and hopefully their jumping and screaming like I just was.”
Currie said he does not think the 1600m of the Australian Guineas will not prove a problem.
“He was strong today through the line,” Currie said.
“He took over at the top of the straight. Aysar had every chance to beat him and he was still strong through the line.
“You’d like to think that he gave you the indication that the mile shouldn’t be a problem. He’s still got to do it, but I’d rather win going into it than get beaten going into it.”
Bred by Arrowfield Group and Jungle Pocket Pty Ltd, Tagaloa is a son of Lord Kanaloa who assumed the mantle of Japan’s most expensive stallion following the death of Deep Impact.
Purchased by Busuttin Racing for $300,000 out of the Arrowfield Stud draft at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Tagaloa is the first foal of the winning Heart’s Cry mare Vasilissa (JPN) who is a half-sister to stakes-winner Tricolore Bleu (Stay Gold) and the Group II placegetters Danon Gelato (Deep Impact) and World Impact (Deep Impact) out of the Group III Fred Darling Stakes winner and Group 1 Irish One Thousand Guineas runner-up Penkenna Princess (Pivotal).
She missed to The Autumn Sun in 2019 and was covered by Snitzel last spring.
