Cheap buy provides Golden thrills

Nullarbor Navajo became WA’s fastest mare on Monday when she claimed the Dr Ed Dewar Golden Girls Mile in a blistering 1:50:6.

Blessed with barrier one in the $35,000 feature at Pinjarra on Monday, no one could have predicted she would end up three back on the pegs, but with Penny Black NZ shifting up the track on the back straight over the 1684m sprint trip, it allowed Steno to reclaim the lead, with the pair fighting it out to the line in a thrilling finish to see Nullarbor Navajo claim the Golden Girls Mile for the proud King-Davies family.

Trained by Corey Peterson, driven by Stuart McDonald and owned by Ken Davies and Cheyenne King-Davies, the once troublesome mare took her earning to just over $180,000, with 13 wins and 19 placings under her belt from just 57 starts.

Purchased for just $500 when Cheyenne was relocating back to WA from her stint in Victoria, Ken Davies confirmed that Cheyenne’s belongings took up two bays of their four-horse float, and with two bays spare, they didn’t hesitate at filling it with the then un-named and untried Nullarbor Navajo and Navajo Outawagga.

“That was when Cheyenne was coming home from the Gath’s, she had a float over there so I took my car over there to pull the float back, and I thought we might as well get a couple of horses.”

“Carted them across the Nullarbor and Nullarbor Outawagga wasn’t much good and Bri (Nullarbor Navajo) was no good until she was about four when we sent her to Stoney’s (Tim Stone) because no one could get her to pace, you could get her to ride, but not pace.”

“Stoney got her to pace, and the rest is history I suppose, Wagin Horse of the Year, Albany Horse of the Year and now fastest mare in WA.” Ken Davies said.

Part-owner Ken Davies missed the race entirely, tied up with umpiring duties at a local basketball game down in WA’s Great Southern, able to hear his phone constantly ring and ding with messages, privately celebrating what he suspected was his prized mare running second.

“It was an amazing race; I’ve watched it 100 times last night and I still get goosebumps.”

“I didn’t get to see it until probably an hour after the race and then I had two games to umpire, I was depressed, it was distressing, I could hear my phone going off in my bag every time I went past it and I thought, she’s run second, you beauty.”

Barrier one has been lucky for Nullarbor Navajo, and although it doesn’t happen often for the mare, she’s now claimed two features from the draw, with her last win back on the 8th of March in 2024 in the Gr3 Lombardo F&M FFA.

NULLARBOUR NAJAJO REPLAY

Likely to be Nullarbor Navajos last season, Ken Davies and Cheyenne King-Davies are set to retire their fairytale mare and send her to stud this breeding season, with their choice of stallion yet to be decided.

The family line dates back to 1976 mare Hot Foot who was purchased by Peter Gleeson, who has gone on to produce many quality horses, including Larrakeyah Lady who produced $995,606 earner Safe And Sound in 1994, who went on to stand at stud for 80 individual winners.

Larrakeyah Lady also produced Massarua ($282,692), Gold Rocket ($393,387) and The Good Times ($201,024).

Nullarbor Navajo’s Grand dam, Dreams was out of Larrakeyah Lady, the second of 15 living foals by the mare.

Star three-year-old Always Hot who’s unblemished record of eight from eight is related to Nullarbor Navajo with both horses’ grand-dams being half-sisters out of Larrakeyah Lady.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA