Everything the Yulong team touches seems to turn to gold at present, and there was no better illustration of that than in Saturday’s G1 Caulfield Cup.
It may not have been the result that the operation was hoping for with its star mare Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}) finishing unplaced, but Without A Fight’s (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) determined victory in the Group 1 feature still delivered a terrific outcome for Yulong, who purchased his dam Khor Sheed (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) under the BBA Ireland banner for just 28,000gns (AU$56,600) at the Tattersalls February Sale earlier this year.
Khor Sheed is currently in foal to Yulong shuttler Lucky Vega (Ire) and resides in the Northern Hemisphere at present, but Fairgray did not rule out a potential trip Down Under for the multiple stakes-winning mare in the future.
“We only bought her in February this year, so it’s a fantastic result,” he said. “It’s one of those that has worked out perfectly.
“She was empty when we bought her and we sent her to Lucky Vega, so she’s in foal to him on Northern Hemisphere time. I would say that she’ll probably stay up there because she’s a 15-year-old mare, but I wouldn’t rule out her coming to Australia altogether.
“If she didn’t go back in foal this year then there is a chance that we might breed her to Southern Hemisphere time next year. A mare like her might go to Frankel on Southern Hemisphere time and then come out to Australia, but we will see.
“A mare like her (Khor Sheed) might go to Frankel on Southern Hemisphere time and then come out to Australia, but we will see.” – Sam Fairgray
“Hopefully she can punch out a filly for us, that would be nice. Her first foal is the dam of a Group 2 winner, so it’s not a bad little page, and she’s a good-looking Dubawi mare.”
With the Caulfield Cup winner’s dam now under Yulong ownership and its first-crop stallions doing the business on the track, the past couple of weeks have been fruitful to say the least for Yuesheng Zhang’s global operation, and Fairgray revealed that Yulong’s proprietor has been as excited as anyone with the farm’s recent run of success.
“It has been a great start to the racing season for Yulong,” Fairgray added. “Mr Zhang has put a lot of investment into the industry and it’s great that he’s getting some rewards. He’s very excited and he follows it very closely.
This is an edited version of the TTR Aus NZ article written by Lewis Lesbirel
