At the 2018 Karaka Book 1 Yearling Sale, Yulong invested $120,000 on a rare white filly by Charm Spirit (IRE) from legendary white mare The Opera House and she delivered a special foal for them this week.
Yulong Tweeted news of the arrival of this gorgeous filly by Alabama Express, who is the third foal from Utzon and her first to be born with the unusual colouring. Her first two foals are both fillies by Grunt that are bay or brown.
The white magic story started with Zabeel mare The Opera House, who was a showstopper at the 2008 Magic Millions Yearling Sale at the Gold Coast.
A minor winner at Wyong, she started her stud career in Australia before returning to Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand where she produced four white foals in a row.
The fourth, a colt by Mongolian Khan died as a foal, but the other three were all sold at Karaka as yearlings and all went on to win races.
Casta Diva, a filly by High Chaparral (IRE) went to Japan where she won at 2600m and Grand Bernini, a colt by Shamexpress, ended up in Australia where he won four races up to 1350m, while Utzon also managed to win at her sixth and final start scoring at Bairnsdale over 1200m by nine lengths.
Now aged 16, The Opera House has had bay foals in recent years and after missing in 2020 had no foal last year, but was covered last spring by Circus Maximus (IRE).
