Only 8 Frankel yearlings - at an average price of over $800,000 - have been sold in Australia and for the first time, the progeny of the unbeaten superstar, who stands at Banstead Manor Stud in England, will be offered at the Magic Millions Sale.
Two of Yulong's total draft of 10, Lot 641 and Lot 706 are by Frankel, while Yarraman Park will also offer a colt, Lot 717.
"They are two very, very nice horses." - Yulong Chief Operating Officer, Sam Fairgray
Yulong bought the two dams of their lots at the 2016 Tattersalls July Sale and put them in foal to Frankel before importing them to Australia.
"Both the mares were served in Southern Hemisphere time to Frankel and came down and foaled in Australia. They are two very, very nice horses. We are really pleased with the way that they have come up in the prep," Yulong's Chief Operating Officer Sam Fairgray said.
Frankel
"We're pleased to be able to take a couple of Frankels to Magic Millons. I think it will be the first year that Magic Millions have had Frankels in the sale."
"I think it will be the first year that Magic Millions have had Frankels in the sale." - Sam Fairgray
Lot 706 is a colt out of Kahara River (Ire) (Bushranger {Ire}), a half-sister to French Group 3 winner Perugina (Fr) (Highest Honor {Fr}) as well as stakes-placed Sovana (Ire) (Desert King {Ire}), the dam of three European Group winners.
"He is a lovely big strong colt, a great moving horse. He's got real presence about him," Fairgray said.
"He's very strong and has plenty of bone and his walk is the thing that will capture a lot of people because he's such a great mover."
Fairgray believes the pedigree of Lot 641, the filly out of Harlech (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) will attract quite a lot of attention for both her pedigree and her athleticism.
Frankel
"She's a lovely filly. Harlech is a Pivotal mare, so she's bred on the same cross as Cracksman (GB). She's a real athletic sort of filly, plenty of size about her and quality. She is what you'd expect to see from a really classic type of filly," he said.
"She is what you'd expect to see from a really classic type of filly." - Sam Fairgray
The desirability of the progeny of Frankel in Australia was illustrated last year when his two lots at the Inglis Easter Sale sold for $1.1 million and $500,000. Fairgray expects there to be a similarly enthusiastic response at the Gold Coast.
"It's exciting because the buying bench has expanded so quickly in the past few years at Magic Millions, that I'm sure these horses will be very popular," he said.
Invincible rarity
In another rarity for an Australian sale, Yulong will offer a filly by Invincible Spirit (Ire), the first yearling by that sire to be offered in Australia for four years.
Invincible Spirit stood at Chatswood Stud for four years from 2003 to 2006, but Australian buyers have been deprived of his yearling stock for some time. This filly is out of Next Meeting (USA) (Street Cry {Ire}), an unraced daughter of Group 3 winner Summer Fete (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}).
Invincible Spirit
"She's a real strong precocious looking filly, very powerfully built. She'll be popular with the buyers because she looks the sort of horse that Australian buyers want to buy at the Magic Millions Sale."
"She's a real strong precocious looking filly, very powerfully built." - Sam Fairgray
Fairgray is very happy with the balance of the draft that Yulong is offering. The first of them goes through the ring very early on as Lot 5, and he feels that filly, by More Than Ready (USA) out of Passion Cheval (Fastnet Rock) will make an excellent early impression.
He also has high hopes for the other filly Yulong has got for sale the first day, Lot 71 by Dissident out of Rockzel (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}).
"We’ve had a couple of parades at the farm and she has taken people's eye with her presence. She's got that Zabeel factor coming through, with a lot of quality and size about her," he said.
The Yulong wave is coming
Those 10 lots will be the first toe in the water for Yulong, which will make a significant splash as a vendor in the coming years.
"We’ll be taking yearlings to all the major sales in the years to come." - Sam Fairgray
"With the way that we are developing, we want it to be a commercial operation, so we’ll be taking yearlings to all the major sales in the years to come and Magic Millions 2019 will be a nice way to kick off," Fairgray said.
Sam Fairgray and Yuesheng Zhang
"It will be a big part of what we do. As well as having our racing arm, we will also be selling a lot of yearlings. The idea is trying to be commercial and stand stallions. Our broodmare band is currently about 130, but that will increase."
"We will be able to start to build our profile in the market place for yearlings. Now is the time for us to start to do that. Once we have stallions and so forth, we look forward to presenting yearlings from those stallions at these types of sales," he said.
