Vin Cox has got quite used to dealing with media interest in Yulong’s latest purchases in his 14 months in his role as general manager.
But he was a little taken aback as the press pack surrounded him after Yulong’s filly by Written Tycoon out of Away Game sold for $1.8 million, a record price for both it as a vendor and its resident stallion.
“Why aren’t you speaking to the buyer?” he joked, knowing that Resolute Racing’s John Stewart was over 16,000km away in Geneva.
Zhang Yuesheng has been keen to defray attention from his high-profile purchases over the years but the Yulong table was in celebration mode after its best-ever result as a vendor for the first filly out of a mare they purchased for $4 million in this sale ring in 2022.
It only goes some way to repaying the initial investment - for the record it spent $27 million at that 2022 broodmare sale – but it marks somewhat of an inflection in its strategy.
While Yulong has been active as a vendor since 2018, it had never been to this scale of sales success. Its previous best result was the $900,000 it received for another Written Tycoon filly at Inglis Easter Yearling Sale last year and the same price for a Zoustar filly at this sale three years ago.
Most notably, having spent close to $10 million on yearlings at the Gold Coast sale over the past two editions, Yulong did not purchase a horse on the first day. Zhang was active bidding on a couple of high-profile Lots, but ultimately kept his ink dry.
Tim Rowe
“It’s a great result for Mr Zhang and his family to realise a price in that order, it’s just wonderful,” Cox said.
“You never expect that sort of money, you always hope, and it was well beyond where we’d hoped.”
It is the strongest sign yet that Cox is helping Yulong pursue a more commercial strategy, which given the quality and quantity of breeding stock they have purchased since 2020, will see them at the top end of the vendors’ table for many years to come.
“It’s justification for all the investment and the time and faith that Mr Zhang has, obviously in the industry generally, but here in Australia as well,” Cox said.
“I think the guys that should be congratulated are the staff. They’ve worked really hard, they’re under a lot of pressure when you’ve got a horse like that.
“We got other horses who potentially won’t make as much money, but are equally high-profile, and for them to handle that pressure and deliver results is a great credit to them.”
Aushorse Investor’s Guide 2025
- More Races worth $1 million+ than Europe & America combined
- More than 140,000 Australians involved in racehorse ownership
Yulong has retained many of its best-bred fillies over the journey, but Cox said they were determined to achieve the best commercial result with Away Game’s first foal
“Any of those sort of decisions are tough, but Yulong is about operating across all facets of the industry at the elite level and I think you could safely say that we did that today,” he said.
Tim Rowe
“Right from very early on we knew we had a pretty special article and all the way through she’s been an easy filly, low maintenance, looks like a racehorse – looks a lot like her mother – and I hope for Resolute Racing and Mr John Stewart’s sake that she turns out better.”
Ciaron Maher, who trained Away Game, coincidentally also for American connections, in her racing days, will train the Written Tycoon filly in Australia.
“It’s justification for all the investment and the time and faith that Mr Zhang has, obviously in the industry generally, but here in Australia as well” - Yulong general manager Vin Cox
Away Game foaled a Written Tycoon colt last August and subsequently visited Pierata.
Yulong sold eight horses on the day to be the third leading vendor on aggregate with $3.77 million, behind Segenhoe and Newgate.
