Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
Yulong Investments provided the story of the latest Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, as Mr Zhang’s Yulong racing and bloodstock operation further reinforced their financial status as one of the premier breeding operations across Australia with a $33.4 million spend, a remarkable 31.17 per cent of the total gross spend across all buyers at the sale.
Formed after a visit in 2010 by Zhang to the thoroughbred pastures of Ireland, Yulong Investments acts as an operation with a global reach, a significant player on the world stage at bloodstock sales from Tattersalls, Goffs and Arqana in Europe through to Magic Millions and Inglis in Australia. Beginning his life in Inner Mongolia, Zhang made his first purchase of the Edward Lynam-trained mare - Yulong Bao Jun (Reward For Effort) - in 2010, and Yulong now stands as a leading player in the resurgence of thoroughbred breeding in Victoria.
Mr Yuesheng Zhang | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
As the racing world mourns the recent death of the legendary Fiorente (Ire), it is testament to the influence of the 2013 Melbourne Cup winner that he is credited with shaping the interest of Zhang and Yulong in the Australian racing and breeding industry. A visit to the 2013 carnival at Flemington initiated the drive to expand operations into Australia, with the subsequent purchase of Yulong Park in Bayles, Victoria.
That, of course, was the beginning of a period of incredible investment by Zhang, which reached its greatest heights over the recent breeding stock sales period. We took a deep dive into the company’s acquisitions to learn more about the depth of elite quality bloodstock that now graces the Yulong paddocks.
Watch: Fiorente (Ire) wins the 2013 G1 Melbourne Cup
Piecing it together
*Please note all data was collated before the recent Inglis Great Southern Sale
Evaluating the scale of bloodstock purchases globally is a complex tapestry of buyer details from a data perspective. We collated a set of purchases where known purchasing entities acting on behalf of Yulong Investments have been active since 2015. These include; ‘Yulong Investments’, ‘Yu Long Investments’, ‘BBA Ireland’ (when acting on behalf of Yulong Investments), ‘Tagaloa Syndicate’, ‘Alabama Express Syndicate’, ‘Lucky Vega Syndicate’, ‘Written Tycoon Syndicate’ and ‘Chatsworth Farm’. All purchases have been converted from original purchasing currency to Australian Dollar (AU$) in order to allow for comparative analysis.
We observed 64 total purchases in 2015, rising to 193 so far in 2023. Remarkable is the scale of investment over the seven-year period; $3.045 million globally in 2015, rising to $62.78 million globally in 2022 and five months in, to $74.06 million in 2023. Across the 2015 - 2023 period we identified $221 million in bloodstock spend by Yulong and other known purchasing entities.
Chart: Yulong's total spend by year
Global Impact, with an Australian focus
Despite the origins of the Yulong breeding operation having roots in that first purchase in Ireland, it is now Australasia which acts as the engine room for growth and the focal point for investment. Across the 2015 - 2023 period we found that 90.00 per cent of purchases, equating to 84.37 per cent of Yulong spend, was centred on Australasian markets.
That said, when the right opportunity arises, shockwaves are felt in European bloodstock as evident by the 5,400,000gns (AU$10.75 million) purchase of elite racemare Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never {USA}) at the Tattersalls Sceptre Sessions of its December Mare Sale in 2022.
| Australasia | 810 | $186,530,338 | 90.00% | 84.37% |
| Europe | 89 | $34,549,508 | 9.89% | 15.63% |
Table: Yulong's total spend by continent
A breeding operation focused on elite broodmare potential
Strategically, there has been a clear focus in Yulong purchases of recent years to buy into elite broodmare potential, from which to supplement a growing stallion portfolio. In the 2015 - 2023 period we identified 78.78 per cent of individual purchases representing fillies or mares, but a distinction between that and total spend, with 86.82 per cent of total spend in the same time period representing broodmare investments.
| Snitzel | 37 | $13,968,000 | 4.11% | 6.32% |
| Written Tycoon | 50 | $11,888,750 | 5.56% | 5.38% |
| No Nay Never | 4 | $10,898,296 | 0.44% | 4.93% |
| Galileo | 20 | $10,467,425 | 2.22% | 4.73% |
| I Am Invincible | 30 | $9,637,500 | 3.33% | 4.36% |
| Fastnet Rock | 33 | $9,497,000 | 3.67% | 4.30% |
| Zoustar | 27 | $7,346,000 | 3.00% | 3.32% |
| Redoute's Choice | 33 | $6,342,000 | 3.67% | 2.87% |
| Siyouni | 8 | $5,379,659 | 0.89% | 2.43% |
| Ocean Park | 5 | $4,294,000 | 0.56% | 1.94% |
Table: Yulong's total spend by sire
Sire purchases by value
Looking across all categories (yearlings, broodmares etc.), we found Snitzel and Yulong’s own Written Tycoon topped the table in terms of volume of spend across Yulong purchases by sire. Of the 37 purchases of Snitzel progeny by Yulong, 34 were fillies or broodmares, with $12.47 million of the total $13.96 million spend being related to female purchases.
Yulong’s leading sire, Written Tycoon, has himself been incredibly well-supported by Yulong, with 50 purchases across our dataset, totaling a sum of $11.89 million. This equated to 5.52 per cent of total spend that we identified in the 2015 - 2023 time period.
No Nay Never (USA) claimed the third rank of spend by sire, albeit mostly due to the Alcohol Free purchase, with only three other purchases identified; Sigh, Broad Outlook, Devine Lass.
| Snitzel | 37 | $13,968,000 | 4.11% | 6.32% |
| Written Tycoon | 50 | $11,888,750 | 5.56% | 5.38% |
| No Nay Never | 4 | $10,898,296 | 0.44% | 4.93% |
| Galileo | 20 | $10,467,425 | 2.22% | 4.73% |
| I Am Invincible | 30 | $9,637,500 | 3.33% | 4.36% |
| Fastnet Rock | 33 | $9,497,000 | 3.67% | 4.30% |
| Zoustar | 27 | $7,346,000 | 3.00% | 3.32% |
| Redoute's Choice | 33 | $6,342,000 | 3.67% | 2.87% |
| Siyouni | 8 | $5,379,659 | 0.89% | 2.43% |
| Ocean Park | 5 | $4,294,000 | 0.56% | 1.94% |
Table: Yulong's top 10 sires by aggregate spend
Top 10 filly/mare purchases by sire
Of filly and broodmare purchases, we found that progeny by Sniztel were against top across the spectrum of spend. Offering a complementary breeding option to the growing band of Yulong sires.
| Snitzel | 34 | $12,471,000 | 4.80% | 6.50% |
| No Nay Never | 3 | $10,833,296 | 0.42% | 5.64% |
| Galileo | 18 | $10,207,425 | 2.54% | 5.32% |
| Fastnet Rock | 30 | $9,067,000 | 4.23% | 4.72% |
| I Am Invincible | 21 | $6,492,500 | 2.96% | 3.38% |
| Redoute's Choice | 32 | $6,322,000 | 4.51% | 3.29% |
| Written Tycoon | 32 | $5,733,750 | 4.51% | 2.99% |
| Siyouni | 8 | $5,379,659 | 1.13% | 2.80% |
| Zoustar | 20 | $5,302,000 | 2.82% | 2.76% |
| Ocean Park | 5 | $4,294,000 | 0.71% | 2.24% |
Table: Yulong's top 10 sires by aggregate spend on fillies and mares
Sales data generally indicates that Yulong prefer as a purchasing operation to pick up elite female breeding talent when offered as broodmares, rather than earlier in their racing career; 69.82 per cent of female purchases being made at broodmare sales rather than earlier in the racing or breeding career. Albeit a slight change of tact was observed in recent years towards younger talent, now that the established broodmare band are there.
| Weanling | 13 | $1,306,000 | 1.83% | 0.68% |
| Yearling | 133 | $21,992,750 | 18.76% | 11.46% |
| 2YO | 14 | $378,000 | 1.97% | 0.20% |
| Racehorse | 54 | $2,646,000 | 7.62% | 1.38% |
| Broodmare | 495 | $165,584,688 | 69.82% | 86.27% |
Table: Yulong's total spend by type
Top 10 yearling purchase outlay by sire
At the yearling sales, we again observed significant support for Yulong’s own Written Tycoon at sales between 2015 - 2023. Written Tycoon yearling purchases accounted for 10.59 per cent of total purchases and 19.74 per cent of spend.
| Written Tycoon | 25 | $8,367,000 | 10.59% | 19.74% |
| I Am Invincible | 13 | $4,089,000 | 5.51% | 9.65% |
| Fastnet Rock | 8 | $989,500 | 3.39% | 2.33% |
| Snitzel | 7 | $3,215,000 | 2.97% | 7.59% |
| Zoustar | 6 | $4,930,000 | 2.54% | 11.63% |
| Galileo | 5 | $1,662,000 | 2.12% | 3.92% |
| Lope de Vega | 3 | $288,000 | 1.27% | 0.68% |
| Dubawi | 2 | $1,586,918 | 0.85% | 3.74% |
| Footstepsinthesand | 2 | $1,066,900 | 0.85% | 2.52% |
| Invincible Spirit | 2 | $150,000 | 0.85% | 0.35% |
Table: Yulong's top 10 sires by aggregate spend on yearlings
