Yulong is hoping to continue its winning ways after striking early for an impressive I Am Invincible colt at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale on Wednesday.
Zhang Yuesheng’s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray and racing manager Troy Stephens were among the Yulong contingent at Karaka and they wasted little time in making their mark, going to $675,000 for the well-bred colt.
The early sale pacesetter, the November-born foal by Australia’s three-time reigning Australian champion sire is the third foal out of Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ winner La Luna Rossa, a daughter of Yulong’s resident sire Written Tycoon.
The two-year-old breezed up in 10.36 seconds at Te Rapa last month for KB Bloodstock on behalf of the two-year-old’s breeders Jomara Bloodstock, who passed him in for $350,000 at the Inglis Easter sale last April.
Cambridge trainer Andrew Forsman was the under bidder.
“I think he's a colt that we'll take home and see where he ends up, but we will be patient with him and hopefully we can get the rewards,” Fairgray said.
“He’s got a pedigree that suits Australia very well and the cross has worked OK, so I think it'll be fine.”
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As a broodmare sire, Written Tycoon is the broodmare sire of six stakes winners including 2024 Group 1 Australasian Oaks winner Vibrant Sun and Group 3-winning Pierata filly Tobeornottobe.
As well as being a dominant on the track this spring, winning a Cox Plate with Via Sistina and saluting on four occasions during Melbourne Cup week at Flemington including in the Group 1 VRC Oaks and Champions Stakes, Yulong also restocked at the Australian two-year-old sales in October, paying $1 million for a Written Tycoon filly at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale in Sydney, as well going to $700,000 for the sale-topping Justify colt at the Magic Millions Horses in Training Sale on the Gold Coast.
Yulong also paid $810,000 for stakes-winning Lindsay Park-trained filly Bold Bastille, a three-year-old who was sold by her owners through Inglis Digital, on Tuesday.
Fairgray has been an integral part of Yulong’s development since joining a then fledgling stud farm and racing operation in early 2018.
“Mr Zhang's put a lot of investment in and it's great to see him getting the rewards,” Fairgray said.
“It’s good that the winners are coming, whether it’s yearlings we've bought, yearlings that have come off the farm or by our stallions.
“They've come from everywhere and it's just nice to see that as we're still only young, but progression has been pretty good.”
The second-highest priced horse in the first 100 lots to go under the hammer on day one was a $650,000 Proisir gelding who was pinhooked by Riversley Park having paid $160,000 for him at Karaka in January.
He was purchased by agents Andrew Williams and Hong Kong Bloodstock in partnership, with consideration still to be given as to where the gelding would be trained.
Breezing up in 10.31 seconds, the gelding is out of a half-sister to the dam of recent Big Dance winner Gringotts and from the same family as Winx.
New Zealand’s champion stallion of 2022/23, Proisir is the sire of Group 1 winners Prowess, Legarto, Pier and Levante and Williams’ purchase is the agent’s first exposure to the Rich Hill Stud-based flag bearer.
“He's been bought for an existing client and we'll take him back and assess him to see if he runs in New Zealand or Australia and … then may end up in Hong Kong as the ultimate plan,” Williams said.
“He did everything particularly well every day we've seen him. He's a good size, he’s athletic and he walks well with a great head.
“There's so many characteristics to this particular horse that we sort of look for. He's a horse that's hard to find these days.”
Group 1-winning trainers Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald were also active on Wednesday, paying $450,000 in partnership with Blandford Bloodstock for the Xtravagant brother to talented stakes-placed sprinter Nadal.
Trained by Ciaron Maher, Nadal is entered for Saturday’s inaugural running of the $1 million Meteorite slot race at Cranbourne.
In other action in the first three hours of the sale, Mitchell Bloodstock’s pinhook of a So You Think colt paid dividends when he was sold to Hong Kong owner Kin Man Yeung for $380,000.
Consigned by Ohukia Lodge as Lot 48, the colt was bought for $235,000 by the father-and-son agents Bill and James Mitchell for $235,000 from Beaufort Downs at the Karaka yearling sale in January.
Hong Kong agent Willie Leung’s Magus Equine also paid $375,000 for a Churchill colt from Leanach Lodge.
