It’s fitting that Growing Empire will carry the Yulong silks of Chinese billionaire Yuesheng Zhang in The Everest on Saturday because that is exactly what the coal-mining tycoon has been doing with his breeding operation for the past 15 years.
Having built his fortune in coal mining in China, Zhang has invested more than $500 million in farms and horseflesh around the world, becoming one of the biggest players in the global market.
Star colt Growing Empire will represent Yulong in the Everest.Credit: Getty Images
He was once again splashing the cash at Inglis’s Ready2Race Sale at Warwick Farm this week.
“He is very involved in every part of the business,” Yulong general manager Vin Cox said yesterday. “He likes to see what he is buying and has an opinion on them. He is very private and likes to just keep to himself. It’s hard to get something out of him.”
Zhang quietly moved around the sales complex on Tuesday, buying four horses for more than $2 million, including a record-breaking $1m Written Tycoon filly, which topped the sale.
“The boss [Zhang] was very keen on her,” Cox said. “I’ve been in Europe with him and this was the horse in the sale that he kept asking about so I think it’s fair to say he’s had his eyes on her.
“We’ve got absolute faith in our product and this is a gorgeous filly. They bought it off us for $200,000 at Easter and turned it into $1m, so a huge congratulations to the Baystone team.”
Billionaire Yuesheng Zhang with his assistant at the Inglis sales.Credit: Nick Moir
As soon as the hammer dropped on the filly, Zhang headed for the airport and Yulong’s farm in Victoria. He will return for The Everest at Randwick on Saturday, a race he needed little convincing about when it was just a dream.
Zhang was one of the first to sign up for a slot in The Everest, buying into the vision racing bosses pitched to him.
“He wasn’t as big as he is now back then, but you could see what he had in mind,” former ATC chairman Laurie Macri said.
“He just got what the race was about and could see how it was going to grow. He listened and made some good points.
“We signed him at Randwick in the Chairman’s Club and he was one of the first to take a slot from the club, which was very important at the time.”
Zhang chose She Will Reign to race for him in the inaugural running of The Everest, a horse he had tried to buy as a two-year-old before she won the Golden Slipper. She would finish down the track in that race in 2017, but the next year the winner, Redzel, ran in his slot.
The Yulong business has continued to grow and its green silks have become more recognisable around the world. But the dream has been to have their own horse win The Everest.
Yulong tried to do that last year with English star mare Alcohol Free, which they bought for $10m and shipped to Australia.
This year, for the first time, Zhang will have an Everest runner that has raced in his colours for its entire career.
The winner of four of six starts, Growing Empire secured his place in The Everest when he was grabbed in the final strides against open company in the Manikato Stakes.
“That was the run that made the decision for us, but we have several discussions about Growing Empire and what was best for him, while we were in Europe,” Cox said.
“It is through an interpreter, which makes it a bit harder but the boss just wanted to test this colt.”
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