![Treasurethe Moment [Racing Photos]](https://betsy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/treasurethemoment.jpeg)
The mooted Cox Plate clash between Via Sistina and Treasurethe Moment appears likely, with Yulong all but green-lighting a spring showdown between its two star mares.
Yulong’s Racing Manager, Troy Stephens, said interim discussions have taken place with Yulong owner Yuesheng Zhang, as well as trainers Chris Waller and Matt Laurie, about the potential next steps for the last start G1 winners.
While exact programs and details are yet to be locked in, Stephens said there is a preference for Treasurethe Moment, who returned to the track with a brilliant first-up win in Saturday’s G1 Memsie Stakes, to target the Cox Plate instead of the Caulfield Cup.
The pair could also clash in this month’s G1 Makybe Diva Stakes over 1600m at Flemington.
Via Sistina is the $2.30 Cox Plate favourite with Bet365 after her first-up Winx Stakes win, while Treasurethe Moment firmed into $6 second favourite after the weekend.
”I’d love to see it (clash), I think we all would and I would be very supportive of that,” Stephens said. “We’re working through that (likely spring targets) at the moment but I think the racing public would love to see that. It would be a bit like the Hartnell vs Winx setup, there would be a lot of coverage around it and it would be a great battle to see. At this stage, it’s a chance of happening.”
“The boss did talk about the Caulfield Cup with Treasure, but she might be weighted out of it now and it might not be the right thing to do with her. We’ve got to think of the longevity with Treasure, so we want to look after her and do the right thing by her.
”Running her in the Caulfield Cup with a bit of weight would be a prep-ending run and it might bottom her out. We’re still working through what is next (for Treasurethe Moment) but we’d love to see her heading towards a Makybe Diva Stakes.”
TREASURETHE MOMENT ⭐
Nine in a row for this emerging star! She steps into open company and toys with them in the Memsie🤯 pic.twitter.com/wLLvrAD8q5
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 30, 2025
Applying a commercial lens to horse placement is part of Stephens’ job, although he admits the size and scope of his role has dramatically increased in recent seasons.
The Victoria based breeding and racing giant has grown at a rapid rate in the last five years, with Stephens brought on board in 2023 to help manage its growing racing portfolio.
Trainers with Yulong-owned horses are largely left to plot their own paths, albeit Stephens plays an active role with the operation’s higher profile horses that have stud potential.
”To be fair, we’ve never really had this problem before and if we have had the problem, the horses have generally been in the one stable so it’s easier to manage,” he said.
”We’re just working through some of this for the first time ourselves this year. I probably hopped on the ship before it sailed out of port, so to speak. When I started, I think we had 65 racehorses in work so it’s definitely grown pretty quickly. We have 210 horses in work that are three-year-olds or older and then we have about 130 two-year-olds, 85 of which we own outright.”
”In amongst them we’ve got some high profile colts that we’re trying to make into stallion prospects so there are a lot of moving pieces and Mr Zhang is heavily involved in some of those decisions.
”We want to let trainers be trainers and train their own horses, but at the same time we’re trying to run a commercial business and we’ve got to play the long ball game, so we communicate with everyone and sometimes ask trainers to put forward different ideas and think outside the square as well.”
Any thought that Yulong’s billionaire owner plays a passive role in the operation is quickly shut down by Stephens, who confirmed that Zhang is emotionally invested in all of his horses, whether they are running in a maiden at Ballarat on a Monday in May or a G1 at Flemington on a Saturday in November.
”He is very involved, no matter what level the horse is racing at,” he said.
”A big part of it is keeping in touch with all our trainers and making sure Mr Zhang is informed of a horse’s progress, movements or any issues. I am the man in the middle between the trainers and the boss.”
”WeChat is a big platform that I communicate with him on – I notify him when any of his horses are running and I give him a little update post-race with my thoughts and the trainer’s thoughts.”
