X marks the spot as Malaysian investor makes Premier impact

Before this week, few people outside the Australasian sales companies were familiar with Han Yong Cheng. 

As he walked around the Oaklands Junction complex inspecting yearlings at the Inglis Melbourne Premier sale, he enjoyed relative anonymity. 

Cheng’s trading name, X Bloodstock, only added to the intrigue when the name was called by Inglis’ auctioneers when he signed for Monday’s $750,000 session-topping Too Darn Hot-Baveno yearling. 

It was second at the sale only behind a Zoustar filly, bred and sold by another Victorian farm in Two Bays, which made $850,000 on Sunday.

For those who follow the Malaysian racing circuit – a fixture of the Sky 2 channel on a weekend – Cheng’s name is regularly seen on the winners’ list as one of Kuala Lumpur’s leading trainers based at the Selangor Turf Club.

X Bloodstock signed for four yearlings in the Book 1 sale, spending $1.82 million.

But it’s not the first time Cheng has made an impression at an Inglis sale. Last year, he bought two yearlings at Classic for a combined $550,000.

X Bloodstock team had a long-term plan to attend the Premier sale with the company’s Victorian bloodstock manager James Price compiling a short-list for Cheng’s operation.

“I said to James ‘show me the best colts in the sale’ and we went from there. It was James’ plan to buy the best colts from the best breeders in the country and the four we got are two from Gilgai, one from Mill Park and one from Segenhoe,” a spokesperson said.

“That was our plan and we have achieved that. Lot 499, he was just an absolute athlete. He had scope, he had size and strength, he had an amazing temperament.”

Kelly Skillecorn, the long-term manager of Gilgai, admitted he was unaware of Cheng’s identity when he was inspecting a number of his farm’s Premier draft.

“I want to thank James Price because he found that new man there. He’s spent over a million (dollars) with us at this sale, with the ($320,000) Doubtland and this lad and he’s gone and found it,” Skillecorn said. 

“(Inglis) just keeps finding new people every year and the market expands and it’s all the hard work that these lads are putting into it, but this year in particular, James has done a marvellous job.”

Although Cheng is a prominent trainer in Malaysia, he is also well-connected across Asia, including Hong Kong, which has allowed him to expand into the bloodstock trading side of the industry.

At the prices Cheng paid for the four yearlings, Malaysia would almost certainly be ruled out as their future destination, at least initially, as the prize money return compared to their purchase price would be hard to justify. 

Cheng is also well-known in New Zealand, having spent nine years in the country working initially for trainers John and Karen Parsons and subsequently Stephen Blair-Edie.

He took out his own licence in New Zealand, training nine winners, before returning to Malaysia and opening a stable.

He’s won three local Malaysian Group 1s and won the country’s richest race, the inaugural Selangor Mile, last year with Lucky Magic and has also claimed the trainers’ premiership in the past.

From Gilgai Farm’s perspective, it was rewarded for selling exclusively at the Premier sale this year, with the Jamieson-owned operation achieving four of the top 10 lots and a 100 per cent clearance with its 13 yearlings grossing $3.74 million.

The man who bred Black Caviar continues to defy convention, often shunning commercial wisdom for the pedigree nicks and crosses he believes in.

“I don’t know why he breeds like that, but he’s worked for 30 years putting this program together. He does his matings, and we breed 25 foals a year,” Skillecorn said. 

“Every other year, there’s a Group 1 winner, and every year, there’s stakes winners. I don’t know if he’s the best breeder in the country, but he certainly must be close.”

Meanwhile, agent Louis Le Metayer purchased back-to-back fillies from the Gilgai Farm draft earlier on Monday, with both to be trained by Ciaron Maher.

The first was Lot 418, a Written By filly out of a half-sister to the former Maher-trained stakes-winning sprinter Jukebox, sold for $450,000 before Le Metayer upped the ante on a daughter of Darley’s underrated sire Kermadec.

The filly is the first foal out of Group 2 winner Turaath, an Oasis Dream mare purchased by Jamieson privately from the stable of Maddie Raymond for $1 million. 

Le Metayer was won over by the filly’s “phenomenal action”.

“When you’re looking at fillies only, you’re just comparing apples with apples, and part of our strategy is to try to buy elite fillies that we can win stakes races and then we can put them back through our consignment (at the broodmare sales),” Le Metayer said.

“We’ve looked at (more than a thousand) fillies this year and I just thought she was the best athlete I’ve seen who is from an exceptional farm who have bred elite horses, often by obscure stallions.”  

Flemington trainer Nick Ryan underbid the Kermadec filly, walking away frustrated, while Blue Diamond-winning trainer Clinton McDonald and agent Shane McGrath stepped back from the Written By filly when their $425,000 bid was overtaken.

The Written By filly is a three-quarter sister to the McDonald-trained Miss Ole, twice a winner as a juvenile last season.

“She’s a powerhouse, she’s all speed whereas the other one’s a miler and this one is a sprinter,” said Le Metayer who revealed he was the under bidder on Miss Ole two years ago.

“Those elite horses, they have a combination of strength, demeanor, composure and  fluency.” 

Maher will also train the half-brother to Group 1 winners Baraqiel and Autumn Angel after buying the Arrowfield-bred colt by first season sire Hitotsu.

Book 1 stats (2025 in brackets)

Offered: 525 (495)  

Sold: 410 (376)

Clearance: 78% (76%) 

Average: $147,346 ($139,759) 

Median: $120,000 ($100,000)

Gross: $60,412,000 ($52,549,500)