THE FASTEST ACTIVE BLUE DIAMOND WINNER
2023 Service FEE: $27,500 inc GST
Tagaloa epitomises the modern Australian stallion – he’s good looking, a Gr.1 Blue Diamond winner at two, trained on at three and is a complete outcross.
After covering 340 mares in his first two seasons and earning the title of Victoria’s busiest sire last season, Tagaloa will be offered to breeders for $27,500 (inc GST) for the upcoming season.
The first foal from winning Japanese mare Vasilissa (JPN) (Heart’s Cry {JPN}), Tagaloa is by Japanese Horse of the Year, brilliant sprinter and exceptional sire Lord Kanaloa (JPN), whose stud career has started in unprecedented fashion at the Shadai Stallion Station.
Lord Kanaloa topped the first season standings with 32 winners, some 12 clear of his nearest rival, with his debut crop including ten-time Gr.1 winner, dual Horse of the Year and world’s highest rated three-year-old, Almond Eye (JPN). Those results were strong enough to make Lord Kanaloa the second-leading sire of two-year-olds among the general sire population, with only the incomparable Deep Impact (JPN) proving superior.
Making an early impression like his sire, Tagaloa won his only trial before stepping out to place third in the Gr.3 Maribyrnong Plate on debut. He then backed up with a win in the Strath Haven Preston 2YO Plate.
Following a short spell, Tagaloa started fresh up in the Gr.3 Blue Diamond Prelude to place fourth before landing his biggest title to date in the Gr.1 Blue Diamond Stakes, beating home Hanseatic, Away Game and Personal in the fastest time by a two-year-old at Caulfield since 2011.
Tagaloa returned at three to win the Gr.3 CS Hayes Stakes in an exceptional performance, running a faster last 400m than Gr.1 Lightning Stakes winner Nature Strip, on the same day.
He then went on to place in the Gr.1 Australian Guineas. Other notable results included a second in the Gr.2 Todman S. and fourth in the Gr.1 Golden Slipper. He retired with a record of three wins and more than $1.4 million in stakes.
Tagaloa covered close to 150 mares in his first season at Yulong, but that number increased to well over 200 in his second season, proving that breeders loved his first crop of foals. A small selection of Tagaloa’s first weanlings hit the sales in 2023, selling for up to $110,000, whilst his first yearlings in 2024 are expected to be a big hit.