\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Mary-Jo Jackson<\/b>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Yulong is set for another significant Saturday of racing, with a pair of high-profile Harry Angel (Dark Angel) colts bidding to further enhance their reputations on what could prove a definitive afternoon for Darley\u2019s rising shuttle sire.<\/p>\n
Yuesheng Zhang\u2019s behemoth operation acquired Angel Capital earlier this year in the aftermath of his classy Autumn Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) win, and then swiftly snapped up a 50 per cent share in Private Harry following his memorable Group 1 breakthrough in The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) back in March.<\/p>\n
Angel Capital was quick to further vindicate his purchase by producing a fantastic first-up performance, winning the Chautauqua Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at The Valley by 3.8 lengths \u2013 a fourth stakes win for the now Chris Waller-trained four-year-old, whose only blip in his Classic year came when sixth in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).\u00a0<\/p>\n
A five-time winner from eight starts, Angel Capital will step up to Group 1 level for the second time in Saturday\u2019s Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield and with an attractive weight of 53.5 kilograms under Damian Lane, Yulong\u2019s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray is quietly confident the colt is well-placed to add a maiden top-flight victory to his CV.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel Capital was dynamic in his first race and we\u2019ll see tomorrow whether he can back that up,\u201d Fairgray told ANZ News. \u201cWe don\u2019t wanna jump the gun, but he\u2019s definitely gone to a new level as he\u2019s matured more this preparation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to Brisbane looking to give him a couple of runs up there [in the winter] but the tracks were against us so we decided not to run, which could have been a good thing because it\u2019s allowed him time to furnish and he\u2019s come back bigger and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s 1400-metre contest is set to serve as a marker for Angel Capital\u2019s ideal trip this time in. While fancied by former trainer Clinton McDonald as a potential sprinter earlier in the year, he is out of a South Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) placegetter in Bahamas (Teofilo), making him a half-brother to Senor Toba (Toronado) and Berkeley Square (Territories) \u2013 both Group winners over 2400 metres and 2040 metres respectively.<\/p>\n
A dirty scope ruled the colt out of a second crack at a mile in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) back in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSaturday is going to tell us a bit more about him,\u201d Fairgray said. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of races ahead of us, whether we come back or go up in distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be nice if he won tomorrow and then there\u2019s options like the Golden Eagle [1500m] and that sort of thing. We\u2019ll very much leave it up to Chris, he understands that we\u2019re in the business of trying to produce stallions and he\u2019ll place them to the right effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can knock off that Group 1 with him, that\u2019s very important for his future at stud and it allows you to pick and choose a bit more where you go. He gets in nicely at the weights so it\u2019s the right time to take advantage of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth he and Private Harry are very untapped really so you\u2019d think they\u2019re only going to get better the deeper they go into their preps. It was pure coincidence that they both came together, but it\u2019s very exciting to have them heading into the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Undefeated in five starts, Private Harry arguably shapes as Australia\u2019s main hope for next month\u2019s $20 million The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) having been locked in to race in Yulong\u2019s slot since March.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nathan Doyle-trained sprinter has not been seen since his Galaxy victory, which was his first foray into stakes company after dominant city wins at Rosehill and in the inaugural $3 million Sunlight Stakes (1100m) at the Sunshine Coast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having posted two trial wins last month, Private Harry will attempt to hit the ground running with Yulong as part-owner when he resumes in Saturday\u2019s The Shorts (Gr 2, 1100m) at Randwick \u2013 a race which will see him face off against a couple of Everest rivals in Briasa (Smart Missile) and Joliestar (Zoustar).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be an easy race, there are a couple of very, very good horses in there, but if he\u2019s going to measure up in The Everest he\u2019s got to measure up tomorrow,\u201d Fairgray said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect him to run well but Nathan has said there\u2019s still improvement to come. Everything has been super, he\u2019s spelled well, Nathan\u2019s given him a really nice slow build-up this preparation. He looks amazing \u2013 I saw a photo yesterday of him and he just looks absolutely fantastic and he\u2019s trialled well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fairgray acknowledged the strength in Saturday\u2019s field but believes Private Harry has the capacity to thrive up against stiffer opposition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an interesting horse \u2014 he\u2019s a real fighter,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a horse challenges him, that\u2019s when he\u2019s at his best, he likes a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the challenge that Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) poses to Yulong\u2019s Everest claims next month, Fairgray added: \u201cObviously he is very, very good horse who\u2019s going to be hard to beat, but travelling horses can be hard and it\u2019s going to be a different style of race \u2014 there will be a lot more pressure in The Everest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be fantastic, it\u2019s great for racing that Ka Ying Rising is coming to Sydney but we have some very good sprinters so he won\u2019t be given it on a plate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bred by Rheinwood Pastoral out of three-time winner Happy Pilgrim (Congrats), Private Harry was a $115,000 purchase for Nathan Doyle and part-owners Kurrinda Bloodstock at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in 2023, while Angel Capital was originally a $400,000 purchase for Upper Bloodstock and G Ho from Mill Park Stud at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.<\/p>\n
Both four-year-olds, the pair were conceived from a relatively modest $16,500 (inc GST) fee, which Harry Angel stood for at Darley\u2019s Kelvinside base between 2020 and 2022, covering a total of 385 mares in that period.<\/p>\n
From three crops and 138 runners in Australia, the son of Dark Angel (Acclamation) has produced 92 winners. Of his 20 stakes winners worldwide, he boasts three Group 1 winners \u2013 Tom Kitten, Private Harry and War Machine \u2013 all bred and raced in Australia.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having raced away with the the nation\u2019s third-season sires\u2019 title this year, he duly stands this season at an increased fee of $66,000 (inc GST), up from $38,500 last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday showcases the strength in depth of the stallion\u2019s runners, with Group 2 winners Arkansaw Kid and Stretan Angel also representing. The former joins Angel Capital in the Sir Rupert Clarke off the back of his Bobbie Lewis Handicap (Gr 2, 1200m) triumph last Saturday, while the latter lines up for The Taggart (1200m) on the same card.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big day for Harry Angel and it\u2019s obviously a very good indication of how well the stallion is going that he can have such a number of significant runners on one day on a key spring day, so we\u2019re delighted,\u201d Darley Australia\u2019s head of stallions Alastair Pulford told ANZ News.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really is firing down here, he\u2019s building on a really impressive start and these horses are clearly not one-dimensional and one-hit wonders because they\u2019ve all been in multiple campaigns now and are all stepping up levels every time they reach a new campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel Capital was amazing first-up the other day, he was super impressive and we know how good Private Harry is already from his almost meteoric rise to fame really. He\u2019s been a fantastic horse. You\u2019ve got to be winning these big spring races obviously, that\u2019s what owners and breeders are looking for, these key events that highlight the best horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pulford said that the 11-year-old Harry Angel, who also finished inside the top ten on the general sires\u2019 table for the 2024-25 season despite a comparatively small number of Australian runners, has already cemented himself as a cornerstone stallion at Kelvinside and is receiving plenty of support this season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHis place is set in stone here now, he\u2019s becoming a very, very important stallion for us,\u201d Pulford said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is fully booked this year and his popularity is increasing all the time \u2013 every day we have people ringing on the off-chance there is an opportunity to get another mare in. He\u2019s absolutely flying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can only see, off the back of better and better books coming through, his fortunes rising. It\u2019s exciting when you get a horse like this, he\u2019s a high-class stallion and suits the Australian mares.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all looking for that beautiful outcross and he\u2019s a complete outcross, not only in terms of Danehill blood \u2013 he was the first commercial son of Dark Angel to stand in Australia, so he\u2019s a very exciting animal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mary-Jo Jackson Listen Yulong is set for another significant Saturday of racing, with a pair of high-profile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-436461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115231874463723998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}