Twelve months after unveiling Via Sistina over the Sydney autumn, Yulong and Chris Waller are hoping lightning strikes twice as they prepare to send their next shipment from the northern hemisphere down under.
Three North American Grade 1-winning mares, all secured for big prices at auction last year, will be among Waller’s nominations for The Championships when entries close on Tuesday: 2022 Canadian Horse of the Year Moira, her former Woodbine stablemate Full Count Felicia and top California filly Anisette.
Moira, Full Count Felicia and Anisette are expected among entries for the A$4 million G1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) on April 5 as well as two features on April 12: the A$5 million G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and the A$1 million G1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m), restricted to fillies and mares.
Yulong and Waller also have French Group 1 placegetters Zarir and River Of Stars entered for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes as well as the A$2 million G1 Sydney Cup (3200m), also on April 12, while Zhang Yuesheng’s operation will also bring Irish Listed winner Sakti to Australia to join the Mick Price and Michael Kent Junior team.
The large shipment is in addition to their established Australian team, led by Via Sistina, who makes her 2025 debut on Saturday in the G2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick. Yulong’s strong autumn hand also includes top three-year-old Growing Empire and Might And Power Stakes winner Deny Knowledge.
“We brought the North American mares to Europe after they sold last year,” Yulong general manager Vin Cox told Idol Horse. “They have been in training at Newmarket with James Ferguson, which is what we did with Via Sistina last year – we brought her over with a couple of other mares, Place du Carrousel and Poptronic, they went to different trainers but it obviously worked well with her and Via Sistina won the Ranvet only three weeks after arriving.
“This shipment will come out in the next few weeks and then all being well, they will hopefully head to the races. There are no specific targets at this stage though and who knows, they may not even get to the races this time in. We’ve just got them in the picture should all go well and hopefully it all works out for them.”
Yulong’s horses are expected to enter quarantine later this week and will arrive in Sydney at the end of the month.
Moira won the G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf over approximately 2200m at Del Mar at her most recent start in November, ahead of Full Count Felicia in seventh and Anisette in ninth. She had finished third behind high-class European fillies Inspiral and Warm Heart in the 2023 edition, hitting the line locked together with Hong Kong Vase winner Win Marilyn.
The Breeders’ Cup triumph was Moira’s first Grade 1 win, having previously won a pair of Grade 2 races in both the United States and Canada as well as landing Canada’s most prestigious race, the Queen’s Plate in 2022.
Moira, who was crowned American Champion Female Turf Horse for 2024 at the Eclipse Awards in Florida last month, is named for one of Canada’s most famous comedy characters: Catherine O’Hara’s hilarious Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek.
Woodbine trainer Kevin Attard prepared both Moira and Full Count Felicia throughout 2024. At their final run before the Breeders’ Cup, Full Count Felicia was given a sparkling front-running ride by Kazushi Kimura to win the G1 E. P. Taylor Stakes, defeating Moira.
Anisette, a British filly imported to the US early in her three-year-old season, has a different form profile entirely.
Racing in the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners colours that won the G1 VRC Oaks with Pinot in 2018, Anisette won a pair of G1 races at three – the Del Mar Oaks and the American Oaks – before she returned at four to defeat her elders in the Gamely Stakes. At every start in the US, she was ridden by Umberto Rispoli.
The three North American mares were purchased by Yulong the week after the Breeders’ Cup and will sport their bottle green colours in Australia. Moira was secured for US$4.3 million (A$6.9 million) at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, while Full Count Felicia reached US$1 million (A$1.6 million) in the same sales ring. Anisette was bought for US$1.8 million (A$2.9 million) at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
Zarir was purchased from the Arqana Arc Sale the night before the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for €1.3 million (A$2.1 million), while River Of Stars was sourced from the Tattersalls December Breeding Stock Sale for 1.65 million guineas (A$3.4 million). Sakti also sold at Newmarket in December for 525,000 guineas (A$1.1 million).
Also expected to make the trip across the world are two horses trained by frequent Sydney visitor William Haggas, who will be aiming to improve on his already impressive record in the city of 10 wins from 18 starts.
Dubai Honour, who won the Ranvet Stakes-Queen Elizabeth Stakes double in 2023, is set to run in the A$1.5 million G1 Tancred Stakes (2400m) on March 29 and will potentially head towards the Queen Elizabeth again. The last horse to win multiple editions of the Queen Elizabeth in non-consecutive years was Tulloch, who first won the race in 1958 before going on to record consecutive victories in 1960 and 1961.
Haggas is also set to bring Listed winner Al Mubhir for the Doncaster.
The Japanese are also set to feature heavily among the entries when they close at midday on Tuesday. Cils Blancs, a Group 2-placed half-brother to Caulfield Cup winner Mer De Glace, is likely to target the Sydney Cup for trainer Yukio Inagaki and owners Silk Racing Co Ltd ∎
