Cliff Brown has a William Reid Stakes runner in The Inferno, but he might have been putting the polish on an even better chance in the $1 million Group 1 had fate not lured him to Singapore.
The Victorian leapt at an opportunity to train at Kranji in 2008, around the same time he encouraged Greg Perry to buy a Tiger Hill filly out of the Marwina mare Duchess Talaria at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
That filly turned out to be Nakaaya, the dam of William Reid Stakes raging favourite Marabi.
“My first interest in race ownership was with Cliff Brown and we were at the sales one day looking at horses and late in the day I said, ‘could we go and check this filly out? I quite like her breeding, she traces back to Tommy Smith’s tough filly of the 1970s, Princess Talaria’,” Perry recalled.
“We went and looked at her and Cliff said, ‘you’ve just got to buy her’ and we were fortunate enough to secure her the next day for $60,000.
“But Cliff was training in Singapore and Nakaaya was obviously staying here, so I gave her to Mick Price to train.”
Price prepared Nakaaya to win five of her 12 starts, including a Group 2 Sunline Stakes (1600m), which is one of the support features on Friday night’s card at The Valley.
She was retired after injuring a cannon bone at her following start, in the Group 2 Queen Of The South Stakes (1600m) in Adelaide, but has proven an even better acquisition to the breeding barn.
The foal she had 12 months before Marabi, who was the result of a union with I Am Invincible, was 2018 VRC Oaks winner Aristia, who is by Lonhro.
Aristia and Marabi are the third and fourth products from Nakaaya, whose first foal was a Congrats colt who raced as Jobodwana before a More Than Ready filly later known as Zolani.
Perry put the first three foals through the sales ring, but a couple of factors prompted him to retain Marabi.
“She was immature so I don’t think she was super-suited to go to the sales, even though she probably would have sold pretty well being by I Am Invincible,” he said.
“I liked the mating, Aristia had showed she had quite good ability and I thought I don’t know how many fillies I’m going to get out of Nakaaya so I decided to retain her.”
Nakaaya died in the spring of 2020, aged 14, having produced only two foals after Marabi; a colt by Written Tycoon (Ruddock) and a filly by Flying Artie, who is known as Siteki and is trained by Brown.
But Perry is enjoying the ride with Marabi, who although closing in on her sixth birthday is lining up for just her eighth start in the William Reid Stakes.
A hip injury as a young horse meant trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace did not get her to the races until February 11 last year but she has since racked up seven wins by a combined 26-1/2 lengths.
She heads into the 1200-metre weight-for-age William Reid Stakes off a dazzling wins in the Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m) and Group 1 Oakleigh Plate (1100m).
Perry’s head keeps telling him he should be starting to put together a mating plan for Marabi for later in the year, but he conceded he will find it hard to draw the curtain on her racing career if she keeps winning.
“I’m mindful that a stud career beckons but if she can continue to perform, I’ll probably keep her going as a six-year-old,” he said.
Marabi is not Perry’s only interest at The Valley on Friday night with Myboycharlie mare Bonvicini striving to join Nakaaya on the Sunline Stakes honour roll.