Yulong secures Belle En Rouge for $800,000

Breednet - Tuesday May 9

Gavelhouse Plus auctions have been a rich source of quality additions to the Yulong broodmare band over the last 12 months, and that trend continued on Tuesday with the $800,000 purchase of Group One winner Belle En Rouge (NZ) (Burgundy).

The mare was offered on behalf of powerhouse New Zealand syndicators Te Akau Racing, who sold her Group One-winning stablemate Entriviere (NZ) (Tavistock) to Yulong for $900,000 last September.

Belle En Rouge is heading to Yulong

Yulong’s other previous Gavelhouse Plus purchases included outstanding broodmare Baggy Green (Galileo) for $1.75 million and her yearling filly by Ocean Park (NZ) for $460,000, while the recent Sir Patrick Hogan Dispersal Sale saw them secure four well-related broodmares for a total of $1.76 million.

Belle En Rouge has now become the latest addition to that list, although underbidders Newhaven Park made them work for her.

Bidding stood at $450,000 with less than a minute remaining, but then it developed into a determined two-way battle over the next several minutes that saw another $350,000 added to her price. Yulong and Newhaven repeatedly traded $25,000 blows, but in the end it was Yulong who won the duel.

“We need to keep strengthening our broodmare band, which is critical for our new farm,” Yulong Investments’ Mr Yuesheng Zhang commented.

“She is a Group One winner. You don’t really see Group One winners become available for sale very often.

Advertisement

“We have a Japanese import newly added to our stallion roster – Diatonic, a son of Lord Kanaloa. He was a fantastic racehorse and has beaten a few Group One winners. He is also an outstanding individual on type, with good bones and conformation. He is from the Mr Prospector bloodline, one of the best in the breeding industry. The whole team like him a lot. We will support him with some high-quality mares, and Belle En Rouge will be one of them.”

Belle En Rouge was bred and syndicated by Te Akau’s David Ellis and Karyn Fenton-Ellis. Tuesday’s big result brought the curtain down on a highly successful racetrack career, which saw her line up in 20 races and record five wins, five placings and $492,555 in stakes.

The highlight was her Group One victory in the New Zealand Oaks (2400m), which earned her the title of New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year. She also won the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Group Three Eulogy Stakes (1600m) and Group Three Anniversary Handicap (1600m), backed up by placings in another three Group races including the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).

“This is an absolutely fantastic result for our homebred mare,” David Ellis said. “We’re just stoked and so delighted for our owners, who have had some great thrills with this mare.

“She’s come a long way since this time three years ago, when we’d fully sold all of our yearlings and decided that we’d syndicate a couple of homebred fillies that had particularly impressed us. The other one that we syndicated was Maven Belle (NZ) (Burgundy), who’s also been a Group One winner. It’s been amazing.

“New Zealand Bloodstock and Gavelhouse have done a wonderful job promoting Belle En Rouge, and it means so much to us to have two outstanding judges and two of the best farms in Australia bidding on her – Yulong, who have purchased a number of mares from us over the last couple of years, and the underbidders Newhaven Park, who stand our Group One winners Xtravagant (NZ) and Cool Aza Beel (NZ) on their stallion roster.

Advertisment
More Reading...
Unbeaten So You Think 3YO WA's New Excitement Machine
One month to the day since he first set foot on a racecourse, So You Think’s three year old son  Opportunistic remains undefeated from three starts, is a dual stakes winner with earnings of $200,250 to his name, and is WA's new rising star of the turf.
Wootton Bassett Winning Whirl
It was a red letter day for Wootton Bassett (GB) at The Curragh overnight with a treble of winners highlighted by top class filly Whirl, who captured the Group I Pretty Polly Stakes (1m2f), a race won by the mighty Via Sistina in 2023.
Sires With Winners - Saturday June 28
Here is the full list of 109 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Euro G1 – Bridesmaid No More and Two Time Derby Hero
Aga Khan Studs don’t race a lot of geldings, but one that they do is Calandagan, who shook off his G1 bridesmaid tag winning the Group I Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in France, while in Ireland the Coolmore machine kept the winning run going to take out the Group I Irish Derby (1 ½ m).
Sires With Winners - Sunday June 29
Here is the full list of 53 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
How Much for a Snitzel Colt from Winx?
The record price for a yearling by the late champion sire Snitzel stands at $2.8million, but that benchmark looks set to be smashed at Inglis Easter next year.
Promising 2YOs for Pike
Tony Pike found it difficult to split his juvenile charges the last time they took each other on and it’s the same story at Ruakaka.
Sires With Winners - Friday June 27
Here is the full list of 48 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Big Pedigrees Don’t Always Spell Black Type
The breeding of thoroughbreds is a very inexact science which is why we saw siblings to a pair of Group I winners fighting out the finish of a very pedestrian 1100m maiden at Ballarat on Sunday.
$3million Won Through Inglis Xtra Bonus
A staggering $3m has now been won as part of the Inglis Xtra Bonus Series following today’s victory by the Cody Morgan-trained 3YO Considered at Dubbo.