Promise to pressure to proof: Pierata's performance repaying Yulong's investment

Cover image courtesy of Yulong Investments

At a certain point, hype alone can no longer carry a stallion, and the feats of his offspring have to stand up on their own. Yulong invested in Pierata in 2023, right at the pinch point between first yearlings through the ring and his first runners, and now with weeks until his first Victorian-bred crop hits the track, the stallion added a third first crop stakes winner to his honour roll.

In the eyes of Harry King, who runs Yulong’s Sales and Nominations in Victoria, the much promised upswing is just around the corner, and the signs are already there in the stallion’s statistics.

Surviving the waiting game

Four-year-old Midnight Dynamite (Pierata) became stakes winner number three for his sire on Saturday when nabbing the Listed Civic Stakes at Randwick, taking his prizemoney and bonuses to over $600,000. It was win number eight for the Bjorn Baker-trained gelding, and a remarkable third win in the four starts he has had this preparation, with the other results being a second.

It was also the gelding’s second attempt at stakes level, having previously run third in the Listed Gosford Guineas at his only other start in the grade.

“The last 12 months have really shown what genuine racehorses his progeny are,” King said. “They are performing at stakes level, he can produce 2-year-olds, and then they can go on to improve again as older horses. I think he is really doing the job for a horse in his age group, and he is not only doing so domestically, but he has captured the imagination in Hong Kong as well.”

From 10 starters in the jurisdiction, Pierata has achieved six individual winners so far. On the home front, he also notched a double on Saturday when Trev, his third 2-year-old winner since the start of June, won at the Gold Coast. For the Yulong team, the stallion continues to - for lack of a better turn of phrase - tick all the boxes.

“He’s a stallion that has survived the waiting game,” said King. “And the quality and size of his next crop to turn two is a major upgrade, so we have only really seen the start of it. This spring is going to be a very exciting time to be involved with Pierata and 2027 is going to be a very exciting year to be selling his stock.”

Having faith in the product

When Yulong announced their acquisition of Pierata in April 2023, the stallion’s first sales season was in full swing. A graduate of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale himself, his first crop understandably received plenty of attention at the sale, averaging over $250,000 for the 26 offered in Book 1. His top-priced yearling, a filly out of Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible), fetched $800,000 and is now the three-time winner Just Like Gaby.

“He was a horse who was always on our radar, as he was with many stud farms,” King said. “You only have to look at his female line to understand why, on top of his race performance. He’s by a champion racehorse in Pierro, out of a Flying Spur mare, from a Zabeel tail line - it’s a serious pedigree that collates some of the best bloodlines Australasia has ever produced.”

Pierata's dam November Flight (Flying Spur) was a Group 3 winner herself and descends from G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner Century Miss (Century). The close family has been further enriched since Pierata's transfer to Yulong, most notably with November Flight's half-sister Mischief Night (Shamardal {USA}).

“And no one could ignore the types he was leaving. He was the leading first season sire at that Magic Millions sale by average. So seeing the results they were fetching in the ring and hearing how they were progressing with the breakers, it was even further reason to reach out and broker a deal.”

Even so, it was a risky move to buy a stallion simply based on sales ring results. No seven-figure yearling is a guaranteed winner.

Fortunately for Pierata’s investors, his first crop rose to the occasion with two Group winners, Coleman and Tobeornottobe, plus the likes of G1 Champagne Stakes placegetter Fearless, G1 Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes second Red Sea (NZ), and G3 Widden Stakes third Wave Breaker.

Gallery: Some of Pierata's first crop Group winners, image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

“Risk does reward the bravery of those who purchase a horse at that point in his career,” King said. “Getting these high-class 2-year-olds come out also helped generate more interest in him during that first season at Yulong.”

Off to the right start

Not that there was any shortage of quality stock coming the way of Yulong’s newest domestic acquisition.

“He covered a lot of high quality mares in his first book at Yulong, and not just Yulong mares either. There were a lot of mares from top quality breeders travelling to Victoria to use him as well.”

The key to the composition of Pierata’s first Victorian book lay in not just giving him high quality mares, but in serving him the right kind of quality mare.

“Mr Zhang is highly educated on pedigree analysis,” King said. “He has a memory and knowledge of pedigree that is second to none, and he loves to continue to study, as the team does as well. Pierata was a little different to the rest of the roster because he had already covered three books before he came to us and we knew what type of horse he would produce, and then Coleman came out early to show us the kind of horse he could produce on the track too.

“That shows us the high quality kind of horse he can leave, which makes us all the more confident in supporting him with Group winners and performers at stud, which then shows the breeders that we believe in what we are offering. We don’t add a horse to our roster just to make up numbers, we stand a horse because we truly do believe in them.

“We believe that they have the capacity and the strengths behind them to improve, and if we can get good broodmares to them, they can excel.”

The fruits of those labours have been borne out in the sales ring in 2026, with both the average and median prices of Pierata’s fourth crop of yearlings rising at least $20,000 above the figures achieved last year.

The top-priced colt and filly in 2026 were both bred and sold by Yulong; David Ellis CNZM (BAFNZ) paid $400,000 to secure the half-brother to Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), while Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott paid $450,000 for a daughter of G1 Australian Oaks victress Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock).

“What’s especially important is who is buying his yearlings,” King said. “We are seeing plenty of return buyers, and that is a strong endorsement of the product. That tells you that what they have in the stable already has shown them enough to seek out the same breed again at the sales. Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Matt Laurie, Ciaron Maher, David Ellis, they had all bought yearlings by him before.

“Usually a stallion needs a headliner to bring people back again, but he is instead doing that off of his number of winners and his style of winners, and his terrific number of stakes performers.”

Pierata sits within the top 10 third season sires by both prizemoney and number of winners for the season, having surpassed both personal bests set last season.

“We are also seeing new names on the buyers’ sheet for Pierata that are some of the top established names in Australian racing,” King said. “The likes of McEvoy Mitchell Racing, the Archibalds, Champion Thoroughbreds, they have all bought yearlings by him this year. That’s another huge positive sign. If you are a breeder and you look at where his stock is ending up at this stage in his career, it’s exceptionally hard to ignore.”

Training on and on

Very few stallions can be immune to the natural waveform of interest in their early careers. They are at their most interesting to breeders, and eventually buyers, in their first year, and are at their most vulnerable in their third and fourth years at stud.

It is not unusual to see a stallion’s race track presence contract with smaller follow up books and a different style of mare, but what King thinks has remained in Pierata’s favour is his progeny have been able to train on.

“Even just within the last year, his progeny has continued to go from strength to strength, and his 3-year-olds in particular have been very encouraging this year,” he said. “Spanish Treasure who placed in the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas has earned over $450,000 this season alone, Smexy and Without Peer have both been Group-placed this season.”

Outside of his stakes performers, Pierata’s older crops feature a number of consistent runners, including Eclair Awesome who added her sixth victory to her record in April, and the five-time winners Blakemore Avenue, Gold Medallist, and Carravilla. Yulong also race Soft Love, one of the eight stakes performers for Pierata; the four-time winner has been placed twice at Listed level this season as a 4-year-old.

“There’s a lot of good performers amongst his three and 4-year-olds, and they’re a combination of male and female, and from all different sirelines as well. It’s good to see his progeny train on like he did so himself. If that is what we have had so far, we feel very excited about what’s still to come, and we feel that everyone who has supported him so far is in a good place as well.”

King looks forward to seeing the next crop hit the track and continuing the momentum.

“Pierata has gone from promise to pressure to proof, and now he has the platform to go again,” he said.