They are big shoes to fill but the team at Yulong are bullish they can quickly unearth a horse to pick up where champion mare Via Sistina left off.
The iconic green and white checks will be carried by several well-credentialed imports this autumn, including G1 performer Trinity College, who is in work with Chris Waller.
The son of Dubawi won three of his 10 starts in the northern hemisphere including the G3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot before a narrow defeat in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris last July.
The four-year-old appeared publicly in Australia for the first time when given a quiet hitout in a Rosehill trial last Thursday and Yulong’s Racing Manager Troy Stephens said he will have at least one more trial before a first-up run in the G2 Apollo Stakes.
A weight-for-age path that ends with a tilt at the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes is being considered for the young stallion.
“He’s making good progress at the moment and he’s got good fitness levels,” Stephens said.
“He’ll have his second trial on the 27th of January and most likely an exhibition gallop on the 7th of February and then the plan is to run first-up in the Apollo Stakes on the 14th of February.”
“It can always change but at the moment the Chipping Norton into the Queen Elizabeth is his likely path.”
“It would have been a fair job trying to keep those horses (Via Sistina and Trinity College) apart the whole time but now we don’t have to worry about her.”
“We’d like to think that he can (measure up to Australian WFA ranks).”
“Being a colt, it’s always interesting to see the way they progress as they get older but at the moment all signs are that he’s got plenty of ability and he’s going well.”
