With her fourth dam being the magnificent Mumtaz Mahal and a track record that boasted wins in the Epsom Oaks, One Thousand Guineas, Champion Stakes, Sussex Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks and two runnings of the Coronation Cup, the Aga Khan’s Petite Etoile headed to the broodmare paddocks with the promise of continuing the record of this wonderful family.
But her career a stud was little short of tragic and most disappointingly left just one filly to continue the line.
That filly was Zahra a daughter of Habitat who failed to distinguish herself on the track, remaining a maiden after ten starts.
A son of Petite Etoile by Never Say Die named Kazakstaan,who failed to run a place, was sent to New Zealand, where he sired the Rawson Stakes winner Minuetto and the Caulfield Cup winner Taksan.
Though she failed to leave a stakes winner Zahra was far more prolific than her dam, leaving eight foals, seven of which were fillies.
After hanging on by a thread for many years, Petite Etoile’s family took a huge step forward when Zahra’s daughter Zaila (Darshaan) produced the 1998 Prix de Diane and Prix Saint-Alary winner Zainta.
Zahra’s daughter Zarna (Shernazar) is the fourth dam of one of the all-time greats Zarkava (Zamindar) who cut a swathe through the best Europe had to offer in 2008 never tasting defeat with wins in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane, Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix Vermeille.
Thanks to Kia Ora Stud, Australia didn’t miss out on the family’s resurgence with the unraced Intikhab mare Zarinia a great-granddaughter of Zahra , producing the 2010-11 South African Horse Of The Year Igugu (Galileo), the Group III Craven Plate winner and Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes third Honorius (Holy Roman Emperor) and the stakes placegetters Sweet Fire (Shamardal) and Ngaga (Fastnet Rock.
Kia Oro retained Zarian’s first foal, a full sister to Igugu named Gayika.
The daughter of Galileo failed to race but her career at stud hit new heights in recent weeks when her All Too Hard colt Tarka (photo Steve Hart) claimed the Group II Stan Fox Stakes as a 20/1 chance.
I was the third consecutive win for the David Payne-trained colt who will be considerably shorter when he lines up in Saturday’s Group III Gloaming Stakes (1800m) at Randwick.
Not offered for sale as a yearling, Tarka sports the colours of his breeder, Kia Ora Stud.
Gayika has a 2yo colt by Deep Field named Dummy Run who was purchased by Payne Racing for $170,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale earlier this year.
A few months later Gayika was put through the Inglis Easter Broodmare sale.
At that stage, Tarka had yet to race and Gayika had missed to Deep Field.
So, it took a bid of just $23,000 for Kingstar Farm to take the royally-bred daughter of Galileo home and she was recently covered by Bull Point (Fastnet Rock).
