Moira's Racing Days May Not Be Over

After the Australian farm Yulong Stud paid $4.3 million to acquire GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare winner Moira (Ghostzapper) at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, it was widely assumed that she would be immediately retired and join the farm's broodmare band. But while that remains a possibility, so does a return to racing, perhaps in North America.

The story was first reported in the Canadian Thoroughbred.

Yulong Stud's General Manager Vin Cox told the TDN that the farm has yet to decide what's next for Moira.

“We haven't made any decisions,” he said. “We've only had the mare for 48 hours or so. We'll get her back to the farm and have a look at her. We're considering all our options, including retirement and going to stud, racing in North America or potentially racing here in Australia. No decisions have made yet.”

The Australian breeding season starts Sept. 1 and wraps up in early December, making it unlikely that Moira would be pushed into broodmare service so quickly. If that turns out to be the case, there's a large window of opportunity to race her during the first eight months or so of 2025.

“We're considering all the logistics, including whether we should keep her racing in North America,” Cox said.

When asked if trainer Kevin Attard would be considered should Moira resume her racing career in North America, Cox said that he would.

“That would be a possibility,” he said. “Again, we haven't made any decisions but he clearly he did a very good job with her and knows her idiosyncracies.”

Moira is known to have many quirks and can de difficult to train. In one example, she won the Woodbine Oaks by 10 3/4 lengths with two fewer shoes than she had on when she left the barn. She was so rambunctious in the paddock that she lost one hind shoe and bent the other. She would race with no hind shoes.

The $4.3-million bid was made over the phone by Yulong's owner Yuesheng Zhang. Cox said Moira is the type of high-quality horse that Yulong likes to acquire for its breeding band.

“She was a Horse of Year in Canada and is a Breeders' Cup winner,” Cox said. “She's the sort of horse we like to add to our breeding band. We are putting together a very good broodmare band and she'll fit right in.”