Four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), who topped the Tattersalls December Mares Sale on Tuesday evening when selling for 5,400,000gns to Yuesheng Zhang's Yulong Investments, will be trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
Yulong's chief operating officer Sam Fairgray confirmed to TDNAusNZ on Wednesday that the 4-year-old, formerly trained by Andrew Balding and a Group 1 winner at two, three and four, will potentially be aimed towards the A$15-million The Everest.
He said, “If everything fell into place she would definitely take her place for us in The Everest and, given her race record, I think she would be very competitive. She is going into training with Gai and Adrian so it is going to be really interesting to see how she will perform over here.
“It is fantastic. She is a very exciting mare and she is obviously high-class and it is great for the industry that she is coming down to race here against the Australian competition, but then she will have a great career as a broodmare as well. It is what Mr Zhang is about and trying to achieve and to have her race on is a bonus as well.”
Fairgray continued, “There is no limit to the options for any of the mares he buys. He has a very broad mind and he is very passionate about racing.
“It is a nice thing to be able to interchange some of these mares between hemispheres and obviously with Lucky Vega (Ire) he is going to get supported with some fantastic mares in his second year, it's really very good for him.”
Yulong Investments already own Alcohol Free's dam, the Hard Spun mare Plying, who was bought for for €825,000 at last year's Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale and is currently in foal to Irish National Stud resident Lucky Vega with a foal by the son of Lope de Vega (Ire) on the ground.
The Yulong team has been working in partnership with Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland, who purchased over 30 fillies and mares at Tattersalls this week. Another of those, the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), is also heading south to Sydney. Formerly trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger, she will join Chris Waller's stable.
Donohoe said, “She's a big 2-year-old and what she did this year is extraordinary for a big filly. Again, she vetted exceptionally well and we'll give her a little bit of time to acclimatise in Australia. She's for the same syndicate of people who bought Alcohol Free.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
