HOW valuable was victory for the four-year-old Tamayuz (Nayef) filly Hunaina last weekend? She won the Listed Betfred Snowdrop Stakes at Kempton Park for her new owner Trevor Stewart and trainer Henri-Francois Devin, and in the process netted prizemoney of over £25,000.

However, the real value of the victory was the impact on the filly’s own worth. She cost Stewart €170,000 when sold at Goffs last November as part of the annual reduction of the Aga Khan Studs, where she was bred. Now she is worth well north of that figure, having been listed-placed prior to the weekend and now gaining her all-important first stakes victory.

Sent into training in Ireland, the country of her birth, Hunaina won as a two-year-old and added a pair of victories last year from the yard of Michael Halford before she found herself at Goffs. Stewart is a most successful breeder and owner and he, more than anyone, would appreciate the significance of blacktype for a young mare going to stud. Hunaina now possesses that and her trainer will attempt to improve on it and seek a group victory.

Hunaina is from a very ‘current’ family, her grandam being a half-sister to the dam of Harzand (Sea The Stars), the dual Derby winner whose first foals are arriving this spring. Hunaina herself is just the second foal for her winning dam Hanakiyya (Danehill Dancer). She follows Haraz (Acclamation), a gelding who amassed an amazing total of 26 placings from the age of two to five before finally winning over six furlongs at Chelmsford last month.

STARTS

He has been placed twice since and all these efforts come from a staggering 40 starts in the care of Michael Halford, David O’Meara, Jamie Osborne and now with Paddy Butler. His dam Hanakiyya has a three-year-old unraced filly by Leroidesanimaux (Candy Stripes) named Hanvarana, a two-year-old filly by Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars) and a yearling colt by Australia (Galileo).

Hanakiyya is one of half a dozen winners from 11 foals produced by the Be My Guest (Northern Dancer) mare Handaza. All six won from the Currabeg Stables of John Oxx and he also handled Hanakiyya herself in her racing days. The best of the winners were the mare’s second and third progeny.

Hanabad (Cadeaux Genereux) was a listed winner over six furlongs at three and runner-up in the Group 3 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes. His half-brother Hamairi (Spectrum) did even better, winning the Group 3 Concorde Stakes at Tipperary over seven and a half furlongs. The colts were immediately followed by Hannda (Dr Devious) and she has given the immediate family a huge boost as the dam of Seal Of Approval (Authorized).

Winner of the Group 1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes, Seal Of Approval is now at stud and her first produce is a two-year-old filly by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium). Her stakes-winning half-sister Gale Force (Shirocco) has a yearling filly by Frankel (Galileo), while another sibling, the group-placed Instance (Invincible Spirit) is the dam of last year’s winning juvenile Betty F (Frankel).

This a family that the Aga Khan acquired many years ago and has nurtured further. Handaza is a daughter of the dual winner Hazaradjat (Darshaan) and she bred a pair of stakes winners. Hazariya (Xaar) won the Group 3 Athasi Stakes over seven furlongs and she is the dam of Gilltown Stud’s dual Derby winner Harzand and also the Group 3 winner and Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes-placed Harasiya (Pivotal).