Yulong’s 2025 fees: Alabama Express and Lucky Vega enjoy well-deserved fee increases

Cover image courtesy of Yulong Stud

It's exciting times for Yulong, on the track the likes of Devil Night (Extreme Choice), Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock) and Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) doing big things whilst at the farm the roster of nine is keeping staff busy.

“There is never a quiet moment at Yulong, there is always something happening,” said the stud's Harry King who, whilst having a chat with us on Sunday afternoon, was enjoying the attention of a star resident.

Housed in a paddock close to the office, a 22-year-old chestnut heads to the fence he notes movement, such as Harry making himself a coffee.

“He just loves people,” King said, “and the older he gets, the more youthful he gets and he is a very social horse.”

King is of course talking about the nine times Victorian Champion Sire, the stalwart that is Written Tycoon.

Written Tycoon: flying the Yulong flag

Being readied to stand his 19th season at stud, he continues to fly the flag for Yulong, represented by five Group 1 winners last year and seven individual stakes winners in the first few months of 2025.

The sire of 75 stakes winners has done a great job taking it to the next generation with his first six sons at stud all siring stakes winners including current leading first season sire Ole Kirk and the Group 1 producer Capitalist.

“He has always been a fascinating horse,” King said of Written Tycoon. “He was Champion First Season Sire who continues to sire great types.”

Such as two sold by Yulong this year, the $1.8 million Magic Millions Away Game (Snitzel) colt and the $1.25 million Inglis Easter Hungry Heart (Frankel {GB}) colt.

“They were the types of horses who would stand up in any sales ring in the world,” King said.

Written Tycoon has stood privately the last couple of seasons and will do so again with Yulong looking after their treasure.

“We are managing him, supporting him with our own mares,” King said, hopeful that can produce another nice colt or two good enough to stand at Yulong in the future, to “come full circle” with him.

Yulong's new boy: More Than Looks

At the opposite end of the stud career spectrum is Yulong's new boy More Than Looks (USA) whose sire More Than Ready (USA) is no stranger to Australian breeders.

More Than Looks debuts at a fee of $22,000 (inc. GST) and King has been delighted with the “phenomenal response to him.”

“I mean, who doesn't love More Than Ready?!”

King is excited to have Yulong working in partnership with Lane's End. “It is our first time and it's a privilege, we are very grateful to be working with such a great international organisation.”

Describing More Than Looks as “a very fast miler with an exceptional turn of foot,” King urges breeders to “take a look at his race replays. Even with his seconds you can see what a fast finisher he was.”

The winner of five of his 11 starts including the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile, the son of a stakes winner from a Group 1 family, More Than Looks is one of his sire's 232 stakes winners and 27 Group 1 winners.

“Breeders should also take note of his dam sire Harlan's Holiday (USA) and his second dam sire Empire Maker (USA) and see what great speed influences they have been," King said.

Finding a horse free of Danehill (USA) and a horse whose pedigree suits strains of that great stallion was imperative for Yulong and we all know how well Danehill and More Than Ready get on!

Fee increase for Alabama Express

Speaking of the Danehill line, King is delighted with the early inroads being made by the eight-year-old Alabama Express whose fee increases from $55,000 to $66,000 (incl GST).

“He can't do anything wrong at the moment,” he said. “His progeny are selling well and of course they are doing so well on the track. Our home-bred Treasurethe Moment looks like being a star and it is also exciting seeing other people doing well with them.”

Confident that the best is still to come for Alabama Express whose books have increased in both size and quality, King said Yulong would again be heavily supporting the G1 C.F Orr Stakes winner, urging breeders to make the most of the limited nominations available.

“We are very keen to see him serve another full book.”

Another three Alabama Express' progeny are stakes winners and of his fellow second season sires only Too Darn Hot (GB) and Castelvecchio have sired more stakes winners.

Alabama Lass won three Group races in New Zealand before her Australian debut; an all the way Listed victory at Flemington in late March, whilst Glasgow Lass and Discretion Rules are also debut crop stakes winners.

Interesting pedigree patterns

Interestingly his stakes winners boast significant line-breeding patterns though different ones, suggesting that Alabama Express is a horse capable of picking up well on various aspects of his pedigree, auguring well for him.

Three of the four including Treasurethe Moment have a strain of Halo (USA), close relation to Danehill (USA) and that filly is also line-bred to the wonderful mare Fairy Bridge (USA) (Bold Reason {USA}).

Discretion Rules and Alabama Lass have interesting male line-breeding patterns, the former's dam bred on an Encosta de Lago/Redoute's Choice cross; the opposite to Alabama Express whilst the latter's dam is bred on the same Danehill/Canny Lad cross as her sire.

Discretion Rules and Alabama Lass also carry further strains of Nijinsky (Can) noting that he is the second dam sire of Redoute's Choice and that Alabama Express is 5 X 7 Nijinsky's Canadian Oaks winning dam Flaming Page (USA) (Bull Page {USA}).

Alabama Express is also line-bred to Best In Show (USA) (Traffic Judge {USA}) and her dam Stolen Hour (USA) (Mr Busher {USA}), the latter being his seventh dam. And her third dam Torpenhow (GB) (Torpoint {GB}) is also ancestress of Flaming Page.

Service fee for Lucky Vega more than doubles

The G1 Phoenix Stakes winner Lucky Vega (Ire) is another off to a great start with his first three winners including the G2 Sweet Embrace Stakes winner Within The Law and the stakes placed Vega For Luck.

The only Australian based son of Lope de Vega (Ire), the grandson of the Group 1 mare Satwa Queen (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}) is proving popular in the sales ring with excellent results at the Inglis Melbourne Premier (up to $380,000), the Inglis Classic ($340,000) and the Magic Millions (up to $220,000).

“His yearlings across all sales this year have averaged $150,000,” King said of the horse whose fee increases from $16,500 to $38,500 (incl gst).

“His sales results having him knocking around with some of the best stallions in the country and his progeny have been bought by some of the best judges.”

“We will continue to get behind him and we think the best is still to come.”

Pierata's fee decreases

And the same can be said for Pierata.

What a terrific racehorse the son of Pierro was, winning nine of his 26 starts with career highlights including the G1 All-Aged Stakes, four other Group races and the RL Magic Millions 3Y0 Guineas.

His fans are rewarded by a service fee drop this year, from $66,000 to $55,000 (incl GST).

His oldest progeny are only three with stakes winners Coleman (last year's Slipper runner-up) and Tobeornottobe (daughter of a Written Tycoon mare) faring well as are five stakes placegetters.

“He is doing an exceptional job,” King enthused. “By numbers of winners he is second only to Too Darn Hot (GB) in the second season sire chart.”

King is excited to see the first Yulong Pierata weanlings heading to the Sydney sales where he is confident they will be in demand. “They are going to be headline acts,” he said.

“And those sending mares to him this year will be doing so on the back of the exceptional support Yulong gave him last year," King said, noting that amongst the 199 mares served by the 10-year-old were such high class gallopers as Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), Away Game, Espiona (Extreme Choice), Duais (Shamus Award) and Icebath (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}) as well as Imperatriz' dam Berimbau (Shamardal {USA}).

“Due to his ownership structure there are only limited nominations to him and he has been booked full by June the last two years."

Lord Kanaloa's classy pair

Another young horse who Yulong have been happy to support with high quality mares is Diatonic (Jpn), one of the two Yulong stallions by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn).

A horse whose service fee remains at $13,750 (incl GST), he is a five time Group winner from the family of Halo (USA), Northern Dancer (Can), Danehill (USA) and Machiavellian (USA).

“He has an exceptional race record,” King said. “He was a debut winner at two and he took out two runnings of the G2 Swan Stakes, the latter in the fastest time for a decade.”

“Racing is strong in Japan and he raced on for five years, winning his last two in Group 2 company. He was a sound horse with a great turn of foot.”

One of his sire's 60 stakes winners, Diatonic is bred on the same King Kamehameha (Jpn)/Sunday Silence (USA) cross as the high class stallion Duramente (Jpn).

King is excited by the quality of progeny Diatonic has on the ground, noting that “25 per cent of his foals are out of stakes winning mares.”

And amongst that tally are foals out of the Group 1 mares Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands), Snapdancer (Choisir), Winning Ways (Declaration Of War {USA}), In Her Time (Time Thief) and Viddora (I Am Invincible).

“If you are breeding at this level you should be looking for a stallion who has had exceptional support and Diatonic is that horse," King said. "At his fee, it is not rocket science to support him!”

Also by Lord Kanaloa, being one of his 12 Group 1 winners, is the G1 Saudi Cup and G1 Dubai Turf winner Panthalassa (Jpn) who served 112 mares in his debut season, his fee remaining at $16,500 (incl GST).

Planning the right matings

“We have been planning his matings to fit in with his middle distance profile,” King said, confident in Panthalassa's ability, conformation and pedigree.

“He is from a high class European family out of a lovely Montjeu (Ire) mare. And he is not one of those big style of Japanese horses, he is a compact horse with great structure.”

“He was a high class racehorse who gave Equinox (Jpn) a massive fright and our confidence in him has been increased by those who've been happy to support him, breeders like Bob Peters and Rick Jamieson who know how to produce a top class horse.”

Panthalassa is another horse who was well supported by Yulong's classy broodmare band, those in foal to him including the G1 ATC Oaks heroine Autumn Angel (The Autumn Sun), the four time Group 1 winner Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}), the G1 Railway Stakes winner Inspirational Girl (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}), the dual Oaks winner Pennyweka (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}) and the G1 Queensland Oaks winner Winning Ways.

As well as the dams of the big race winners Preferment (NZ), Princess Jenni (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Lyre (Lonhro).

Tagaloa's encouraging start

Japanese genes are also to the fore with the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Tagaloa who King thinks is at a good time to garner support from breeders, his fee also steady at $22,000 (incl GST).

“I think this is the year to use him,” he said, noting that Yulong have been heartened by the progress his progeny have made in the second half of their juvenile careers.

“We were not expecting much from them pre-Christmas," he said, "but we've been rapt with his achievements since.”

Such as the great day he enjoyed on April 12 with three of his progeny earning black-type, Spicy Lu leading throughout in the Listed Fernhill Mile whilst Meisho was a game second in the Listed Without Fear Stakes. And Alottago caught the eye with a strong finishing third in the Listed Welcome Stakes at just his second start.

Yulong's Mr. Consistent: Grunt

The G1 Australian Guineas and G1 Makybe Stakes winner Grunt (NZ) makes up the Yulong roster for 2025.

There is a service fee drop from $22,000 to $19,800 for the horse who King describes as “a consistent source of winners across the country.”

The sire of the Group 1 galloper Veight, Grunt has another classy three-year-old this season with Pocketing digging deep to take out the recent G2 Tulloch Stakes.

“He is another stallion who people like at the sales, another horse whose average this year doubled last year's.”

It may well be that another horse is added to the Yulong roster before spring kicks off with the futures of Growing Empire (Zoustar) and First Settler (Written Tycoon) yet to be decided.

And next year may be an even bigger one for Yulong with Devil Night, Vinrock (I Am Invincible) and Angel Capital (Harry Angel {Ire}) all lovely prospects.

It is a classic embarrassment of riches scenario for the farm with Yulong coming a long way in a very short time, purchasing their first Victorian tract of land only seven years ago, securing Written Tycoon in 2021.

“To get where we are now, standing some of the most sought after stallions in the country, is very exciting,” King said.

King is justifiably proud of the fact that each of Yulong's first season sire have been represented by two-year-old stakes winners, something he thinks will give breeders the confidence to support their stallions.

“We want to breed racehorses, and good ones and if I was a breeder I'd want a stallion whose mares have been chosen with racetrack success in mind.”

Table: Yulong stallion service fees for 2025, fees include GST