Straight Up – Racing’s latest development in a high-rise stakes property play
In this edition:
- Billion-dollar Sunlight – Gold Coast Turf Club development gains stakeholder approval
- Hobby horse – The blue-collar mare on a Tattersall’s Tiara mission
- Ka Ying maybe? Changes to RV vet protocols opens door to Champions Sprint possibility
- How’s ’Zat – Group 1 case for Golden Eagle grows after eighth elite winner from 2024 edition
Location, location, location!
This oft-used marketing catch-cry in the real estate world places an emphasis on one of the golden rules of buying and selling property.
In the case of the Gold Coast Turf Club (GCTC), it is also the number one consideration in a redevelopment of a parcel of land on its racecourse.
The GCTC has formed a partnership with Aquis, a global property firm that deals in large-scale holdings in Australia and across Asia under its founder and racing heavyweight Tony Fung.
Estimated to cost $1 billion, the Sunlight Lifestyle Precinct development at the northern end of the Gold Coast racetrack has been more than a decade in the making but it is a step closer to reality after receiving the green light from stakeholders.
Fung’s son John will oversee the development in a move that keeps the Australian racing industry’s relationship with real estate deals in the news, one month since the Australian Turf Club’s (ATC) plans to sell Rosehill were scuppered in a members’ vote.
Perhaps the GCTC’s idea to transform a part of its racecourse is a model the ATC could further investigate to solve some of the revenue issues that have been blamed for the club’s perilous financial situation.
The ATC’s richest asset, Rosehill, already fits the ‘location” mantra, sitting in the geographic heart of Sydney and there is a consensus some of its real estate potential could be used without compromising its existing racing operations.
While the Fung family is increasing its property footprint on the Gold Coast, it has also been reshaping a stallion roster this year under its Aquis Farm banner in southeast Queensland.
For two stallions, Invader and The Mission, it’s been a matter of ‘relocation’ with their sale to Chinese interests.
The Mission came close to siring his first Group 1 winner when Yellow Brick finished second in the Stradbroke Handicap earlier this month but another chance presents itself when his daughter Adiella contests the Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm.
Adiella is one of only three last-start winners assured of a run in the $700,000 race and her backstory as the standard-bearer for a small-scale Toowoomba stable is highlighted in our preview of the last Group 1 race of the Australian season.
Her trainer John Dann has trained three generations of Adiella’s family to finally land his chance in a Group 1 race.
In contrast, the three mares representing Yulong have all been recent purchases for Zhang Yuesheng at high-end broodmare sales, including Coco Sun.
Coco Sun earns a special mention because she is a winning graduate from a Listed race in Adelaide held at this time of the year that could be easily dismissed because of its placement.
The Oaklands Plate will be run at Morphettville on Saturday and Coco Sun claimed the 2023 edition en route to her South Australia Derby victory.
History repeated itself when the 2024 Oaklands winner Femminile returned to Adelaide this year to also beat the boys in the Derby before her sale to Yulong.
Femminile won in 2025 for Phillip Stokes, the dual-state trainer, who has two runners on Saturday, including the early favourite Matahga.
In other racing news this week, there have been changes to some of the veterinary protocols attached to overseas runners competing during the Victorian spring carnival.
Only horses entered for the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate or Melbourne Cup would be required to undergo computed tomography (CT) scans before each start.
It’s a decision that creates a window of opportunity for Racing Victoria to lure Ka Ying Rising to Flemington for the Champion’s Sprint after competing in the Everest.
And while on The Everest, the $20 million which offers a piece of valuable racing real estate of a different kind, emerging industry investor Mike Gregg and his Mulberry Racing outfit has clinched a three-year deal to secure the slot abandoned by casino operator The Star.
Finding a horse to match it with Ka Ying Rising isn’t going to be easy but on the basis of recency bias, Gregg and his team could do a lot worse than check out the strength of the Tiara form after Bella Nipotina came through the race last year to win The Everest four months later.
What you may have missed this week:
- From Royal Ascot to industry coalface – Hore-Lacy steps into Thoroughbred Breeders hot seat
- PointsBet takeover hangs in balance after farcical voting error
- Kiwis’ geoblock windfall – overseas bookies banned, triggering $100 million Entain payment
- Working overtime – The Australian-based stallions covering to northern hemisphere time
- Contrasting states and confounding statements – POCT projection lotto rolls on in NSW and Queensland
- Run The Numbers – Trainers maketh the stallion
- Tail of the tape – a report card on 2024’s million-dollar yearlings
- Rowe On Monday – Vieira flying high with Trapeze Artist, Buccleuch boost for Twin Hills sire, more Playing God progeny for Pearce brothers
Don’t forget to check out this week’s edition of the Straight Talk Podcast, which includes an extended discussion with Kiwi journalist Michael Guerin about the banning of overseas bookies in New Zealand.
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Enjoy your Group 1 racing weekend,
Warwick Barr
Senior Editor
The Straight
