Cover image courtesy of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing
With a burgeoning Northern Hemisphere operation working alongside their main base in Victoria, in recent years Yulong’s European investment have been advertised through the exploits of their track stars including Group 2 winner Leo De Fury (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and their now stallion Lucky Vega (Ire), a son of Lope De Vega (Ire), who landed the G1 Phoenix S. at the Curragh in 2020.
Yulong’s Chief Operating Officer Sam Fairgray told TDN AusNZ Magical Lagoon’s victory was just rewards for owner Mr Zhang, whose focus for a long time has been to expand the operation.
“It was great to have a winner at Ascot,” said Fairgray. “Mr Zhang wants to have horses competing and winning at the highest level, so to have purchased a lovely Galileo filly and for her to come out and win a Group 2 at Royal Ascot, it was absolutely a great thrill for Mr Zhang.
“Mr Zhang wants to have horses competing and winning at the highest level, so to have purchased a lovely Galileo filly (Magical Lagoon) and for her to come out and win a Group 2 at Royal Ascot, it was absolutely a great thrill for Mr Zhang.” - Sam Fairgray
“He has put a lot into the industry worldwide and it is great to see him achieve the results with an exciting filly like Magical Lagoon.”
Bred by Coolmore, Yulong teamed up with longtime advisor, BBA Ireland’s Mick Donohoe, to purchase the daughter of Galileo (Ire) for 305,000gns (AU$565,000) at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale from Violet Hesketh and Mimi Wadham's WH Bloodstock draft and Donohoe told TDN AusNZ he recalls being impressed with her when he saw her as a yearling.
Sam Fairgray and Mr Zhang | Image courtesy of Yulong
“She was a very attractive filly and looked very athletic. She is by one of, if not the greatest sires we will ever see and she had a brilliant pedigree - there was not much not to like about her,” Donohoe said.
A popular winner
Donohoe has worked for Yulong for a number of years looking after Mr Zhang’s bloodstock interests in the Northern Hemisphere and, given Yulong’s support of the thoroughbred industry as a whole, the agent said it was important for him to have a winner on the biggest stage, at one of the world’s most prestigious meetings.
Magical Lagoon (Ire) as a yearling | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
“It was great for someone like Mr Zhang to have a big winner at Royal Ascot and I don't think the importance of that was lost on anyone,” he said. “The Ribblesdale is an important race for those 3-year-old fillies and it is one of the most prestigious fillies' races run at Royal Ascot.
“Mr Zhang is a great man and he has been a fantastic supporter of racing in Ireland and he has been particularly good to the Irish breeders. The amount of emails and phone calls we have got at the BBA just congratulating Mr Zhang and the team at Yulong is unbelievable - she was a really popular winner.”
Magical Lagoon showed tenacity and fighting spirit in spades, when battling up the straight to defeat the William Haggas-trained Sea Silk Road (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) by 0.5l, in what turned out to be one of the most thrilling races of the whole meeting.
Mick Donohoe | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
“The race itself was so exciting, watching those two fillies battle it out up the straight,” said Donohoe. “That is the type of filly she is - she tends to come off the bridle midway through her races and that is just her running style, but the one thing about her, she just has a great heart and like all Galileos, she just has such a will to win. Shane Foley gave a fantastic ride and she has been expertly handled by Jessica.”
An abundance of opportunities
With an enviable pedigree, being out of German Group 2 winner Night Lagoon (Ger) (Lagunas {GB}), making her a half-sister to multiple Group 1-winning champion Novellist (Ire), by Monsun (Ger), Magical Lagoon now boasts a similarly impressive record on the racecourse and encapsulates everything Yulong are trying to achieve.
“With a filly like Magical Lagoon, there is a lot of upside to her. She has obviously come on from two to three and you would think she would only mature and progress further,” said Fairgray. “There are plenty of opportunities for her on the racetrack and to have a filly with her credentials to be able to breed from is fantastic.”
A Group 3 winner as a juvenile, Magical Lagoon made her reappearance this season with a narrow second-place finish behind Concert Hall (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the Listed Salsabil S. in April, before her victory in last Thursday’s Group 2 and she is now likely to be given the opportunity to add even more gravitas to her already glowing record in the G1 Irish Oaks on July 16.
“We think she could turn out to be a really top-class filly for the future. She is a big, imposing type, who really looks like she has improvement in her. She has come out of the race in fantastic order and it is all systems go for the Irish Oaks,” Donohoe continued.
“We think she (Magical Lagoon) could turn out to be a really top-class filly for the future. She has come out of the race in fantastic order and it is all systems go for the Irish Oaks.” - Mick Donohoe
Sourcing stock for Lucky Vega
With a dual-hemisphere stallion in Lucky Vega on their roster, who stands at the Irish National Stud during his time in the North, Fairgray said they have been sourcing well-bred mares for the stallion.
“Obviously, having Lucky Vega standing up there we bought nicely bred mares to support him,” explained Fairgray. “The idea is to buy some nice pedigree fillies for him that can go on and perform well on the track and if they do that it’s a bonus.
Lucky Vega (Ire) when winning the G1 Phoenix S. as a 2-year-old | Standing at Yulong, mage courtesy of Yulong
“What we are ultimately trying to do is build some nice families with some nice bloodlines and bring them down to Australia and breed them to our stallions and hopefully the rest of the family can continue to improve in Europe.”
With a lot of racing to pass under the bridge, no decision has been made as to which hemisphere Magical Lagoon will end up in once her career has finished, but there is a possibility that she could ultimately come to Australia.
“Ideally, the Northern Hemisphere will feed mares back down to Australia, but we will wait until she (Magical Lagoon) retires and then make a decision, but I would think she will probably end up here, because Mr Zhang wants to support the stallions with lovely, quality fillies like her,” said Fairgray.
“Ideally, the Northern Hemisphere will feed mares back down to Australia, but we will wait until she (Magical Lagoon) retires and then make a decision..." - Sam Fairgray
Keep on improving
Daughters of the great Galileo have a knack of improving with age, with the likes of top-class 3-year-olds Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and many more among his female progeny that have gone on to perform past their Classic year and Donohoe is confident Magical Lagoon can join this illustrious list of mares who have trained on into their 4-year-old season and beyond.
“With her pedigree and her race record she is definitely worth a good bit more than what we paid for her. She will obviously never be for sale and she will retire to Mr Zhang’s growing band of broodmares,” said Donohoe.
Magical (Ire), Galileo’s (Ire) daughter, won six Group 1s beyond her Classic year | Image courtesy of Coolmore
“Obviously, we would love to see her race on and I think she is the type of filly who could improve as a 4-year-old and a filly like this, as a broodmare, she would work in either hemisphere.”
Fairgray and Mr Zhang will be making the trip to Europe in the next few weeks and Fairgray said he is looking forward to seeing the Northern Hemisphere, while they will also be present at the Arqana Summer Sale, which kicks off on June 30 and the Tattersalls July Sale, which gets underway in Newmarket on July 6.
“Mr Zhang and I will be coming up to Europe at the end of this month for the Arqana Sale and the Tattersalls Sale,” he said.
Galileo (Ire)
“We will be looking at the mares and foals in Ireland, we have 30-odd there, so we will be looking forward to seeing them. All of them have gone to Lucky Vega, so he is having a great run there with his fertility, so it’s been really good.”
