Yulong offered 10 yearlings at this year’s Sale and next month, the Victorian-based operation will send 21 youngsters to the Gold Coast with almost all of them by proven sires from across the world.
“We’re really pleased with the way the horses are coming together,” Yulong Chief Operating Officer Sam Fairgray told TDN AusNZ. “We’ve got 21 and they’re all by proven stallions bar one by Capitalist, who is well on the way as a stallion.
“So we’re really pleased with how they’re looking and how they’ve been received from the inspections on the farm.”
Yulong, headed by Chairman Mr Zhang, has invested heavily in the broodmare market in Australia and overseas over the last few years and it is beginning to reap the rewards of that with a very strong lineup of yearlings to be offered at the Gold Coast.
“Over the last three years our broodmare numbers have continued to grow and Mr Zhang has wanted to keep improving the quality of our broodmare band so we’ve gone out and bought mares in foal and nice young mares,” Fairgray said.
Sam Fairgray and Mr Zhang
“We’re now up to having 220 broodmares and this last breeding season, we foaled down 170 mares so it’s just an indication of the number of mares we’ve now got and it’s really nice to have these good, young mares and they’ve been given a chance by going to these proven stallions and now we’ll support our own stallions with them as well.”
The 2022 yearling sales season will see the first crop of Yulong resident Grunt (NZ) go through the ring and Fairgray said they chose to support the highest-quality stallions in Australia such as Pierro, Exceed And Excel, Snitzel, I Am Invincible, and Zoustar before the same mares have yearlings by their own stallions in the future.
Grunt (NZ) | Standing at Yulong
“Obviously when you breed to those stallions who can produce a higher percentage of stakes winners, you’re increasing your chances of improving your mare’s pedigree and so forth so it’s definitely something we’ve looked at and we’ve got some lovely types,” Fairgray said.
“It’s great to have the page but to be able to have the physical as well as the page is really good.
“We try and select the horses that we think will be suitable for the Sale but I think now Magic Millions, because of its race day and its international exposure, I think you can take any horse, whether it’s a good individual, whether it’s going to be a 2 or 3-year-old and they will sell well and hence that’s why we have a lovely cross-section."
“I think you can take any horse, whether it’s a good individual, whether it’s going to be a 2 or 3-year-old and they will sell well at Magic Millions and hence that’s why we have a lovely cross-section." - Sam Fairgray
As well as Grunt, Yulong also added Alabama Express to its stallion ranks this year and will have Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) join the farm upon his retirement likely with several others.
“We will be supporting our new stallions in the future,” Fairgray said. “And going off the foals that we’ve got by Grunt, we’ll have a good number of them that will be at the Magic Millions in 2022. There are plenty of good-quality foals that we have on the farm that are out of really nice mares.
“Going forward, there might not be the globally profiled stallions that we have this year but there will definitely be great types and have the broodmare pedigree page behind them.”
Yulong became the first vendor to offer progeny by Frankel (GB) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020 and it will again offer yearlings by the European rising star at the 2021 edition of the Sale, as well as horses by legendary New Zealand stallion Savabeel, plus Kingman (GB) and Siyouni (Fr).
“We’ve got our colony of horses but we’ve got a couple of Savabeels, a couple of Frankels, there’s a Siyouni and a Kingman so there’s a really nice mix of stallions and pedigrees within our draft.”
The combination of Frankel and Yulong produced arguably the unluckiest horse to not win a Group 1 in 2020 with Hungry Heart and Fairgray said it is excited to head back to the Gold Coast to offer a colt and a filly by the Juddmonte stallion.
Hungry Heart
“Frankel has had a great run over the last six months,” Fairgray said. “He won the Metropolitan, he had a stakes winner the other week, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott had a 2-year-old winner by him at Warwick Farm.
“Frankel has really continued in the Southern Hemisphere the way he has gone in the Northern Hemisphere.
"Kingman is obviously doing a fantastic job as a stallion and we’ve seen a couple of the progeny of his go through the yearling sales and it’s great that this year we’ve got a really nice filly to be able to offer.”
At the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Yulong went to $1.75 million to secure dual Group-winning mare Gregers (Commands) and after retaining her first foal, who is named Yulong Turbo (Written Tycoon) and won on debut in Adelaide recently, she will have her first foal through the ring next month.
Lot 358 is a filly out of Gregers and by champion stallion Snitzel and Fairgray said Yulong is excited to see her go through the ring.
Gregers when racing
“She’s a really nice filly,” Fairgray said. “She looks very fast, she looks like she will be early.
"She’s got great movement and is a very relaxed filly with a great temperament so I think she’ll be very popular at the Sale and the mare was an expensive purchase by Mr Zhang, she was a great race mare and this filly looks like a real jump and run 2-year-old filly so she’ll be very popular.”
Yulong will also offer Lot 284, a colt by I Am Invincible out of Extremely (Hussonet), making him a half-brother to G1 Blue Diamond S. winner and Newgate first-season sire Extreme Choice.
Extreme Choice | Standing at Newgate Farm
This colt is Extremely’s first foal by the leading Yarraman-based sire and is bred on a cross that has produced 25 per cent stakes winners to runners.
“He’s a really nice colt the I Am Invincible out of Extremely,” Fairgray said. “He’s got lots of quality, beautiful balance, he’ll be really popular obviously being a half-brother to Extreme Choice.
“The Hussonet/I Am Invincible cross has already worked and he’s got the physical to go with his pedigree so we’re expecting big things from him. When you breed and you have a quality mare and you send it to one of the best stallions, you just hope you produce a good sort and we’ve certainly got that.”
A relation to I Am Invincible will also be offered by Yulong with Lot 788, a filly by Snitzel out of Shoot The Breeze (All American), who is a half-sister to the leading sire.
Lot 788 is a relation to Yarraman Park's stallion I Am Invincible
“She’s a very big, strong filly,” Fairgray said. “Everyone that has seen her has been very impressed with her.
“She looks like you could put a saddle on her tomorrow and take her to the races so she’s got a great pedigree behind her but she’s a very big, forward, mature filly so we’re excited how she goes at the Sale.
“I also think Lot 148 is a really nice Exceed And Excel filly out of a General Nediym mare and she’s got a lot of strength and quality about her so I think she’ll be really popular as well.”
Having endured a strict lockdown across Victoria for a number of months this year, Fairgray said the entire team at Yulong is looking forward to getting up to the Gold Coast and seeing people they haven’t seen all year.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Fairgray said. “I think all the staff did a fantastic job through Covid, obviously a lot of them missed out on having any holidays and the difficulties of trying to sell yearlings in that time and the breeding season, but all the staff knuckled down and we got through it.
“There’s a lot to look forward to, to be able to get up to a great location like the Gold Coast and catch up with people we haven’t seen for several months and just get a normality back in our lives.”
