Yulong is celebrating glorious validation for their years of massive Thoroughbred investment after Via Sistina produced a triumph for the ages in the Oct. 26 Cox Plate (G1) at Moonee Valley Racecourse.
Sold as a yearling in Britain for US$6,751, and bought as a group 1-winning racemare to compete under the Yulong banner for 2.7 million guineas (US$3.58 million) four years later, Via Sistina obliterated her eight rivals to score her fourth Australian top-flight win for trainer Chris Waller in a style that had to be seen to be believed.
After travelling near the rear, the 7-year-old mare by Fastnet Rock moved to the front with ease approaching the home turn, sweeping past the highly rated Japanese favorite Prognosis like he was a bush maiden, and streaked home to win the famed weight-for-age feature by an extraordinary eight lengths.
She matched Winx's record winning margin for the race but she didn't settle for merely matching her record time—she annihilated that, too, clocking 2:01.07 for the 2,040 meters (a little more than 1 1/4 miles)—bettering Winx's old race and track record of 2:02.94, which was set in the third of her four Cox Plate wins in 2017, by roughly 10 lengths.
VIA SISTINA!! SENSATIONAL!!!!@mcacajamez got his 100th G1 win in spectacular fashion aboard the 6-year-old mare in the $5 million Cox Plate (G1) at @TheValley. @cwallerracing trained the daughter of Fastnet Rock.
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) October 26, 2024
Play the lucky last: https://t.co/DEJuR65Tyl pic.twitter.com/vJbPNVLBeM
And all this just four days after those heart-stopping scenes when Via Sistina became tangled in some loose bandage and gear at the Valley's Breakfast With the Best trackwork session, and tossed jockey James McDonald out of the saddle, before bolting and running 2 1/2 laps of the track, or around 5,000 meters.
The celebrations were commensurate with the occasion, and the force of Via Sistina's work in the AU$5 million feature.
Jockey James McDonald earned an AU$2,000 fine for rising to stand in the irons at the 50-meter mark, then crossing the line bolt-upright while whirring his free fist, yelling home his 100th group 1 victory. Via Sistina might have won by 12 lengths if he'd taken it seriously. As it was, McDonald described it as "a Winx-like performance".
And for Yulong, after Zhang Yuesheng's many dozens of millions of dollars of investment in Thoroughbreds and farms around the world in the past decade, the party was set to go long into the night after this, the enterprise's most important race win.
"It was pretty special. The win was one for the ages. And to break a track record that's held by the super mare Winx speaks volumes for her performance. It was stunning. Unbelievable," Yulong general manager Vin Cox told ANZ Bloodstock News.
"It's a huge result for Yulong. Mr. Zhang and his family have put a lot of money into the industry, particularly here in Australia, and to win one of the majors is a phenomenal performance.
"It was great that Mr. Zhang was here with his family and really enjoyed the day. It's not only a great result for Yulong, it's really a great result for the industry. It validates what Mr. Zhang has been trying to do and trying to achieve."
Asked if the win was the highlight of Yulong's existence so far, Cox said since it was "one of the great races on the racing calendar worldwide, you'd have to say it is".
Bred in Ireland but by British interests with the quintessentially English-sounding name of Laundry Cottage Stud, Via Sistina became yet another high-priced target for Yulong after taking her first top level win in the Curragh's Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) under the tutelage of Newmarket-based trainer George Boughey in July 2023.
She then won at the top tier on her Australian debut in Rosehill's Ranvet Stakes (G1) in March, resumed this preparation with a sprint victory in the Winx Stakes (G1), and added Flemington's Turnbull Stakes (G1) to her CV before the Cox Plate.
"It's easy for me to say she's one of the greatest of all time, but I'm a bit too close to the action. I'd prefer others make that judgement. We're just thrilled she races in a green and white and can be so dominant in a race like that," Cox said of the mare, who took her earnings past AU$6.7 million in becoming Fastnet Rock's first Cox Plate winner in the first year of his retirement.
Cox said Via Sistina's immediate future was uncertain. The AU$3 million Champions Stakes (G1) at Flemington Nov. 9 has often been a next step for Cox Plate winners, but Cox noted the mare was also still among nominations for the Melbourne Cup (G1), and said "nothing's being ruled out".
Solid in betting at $5, Via Sistina led home $3.40 favorite Prognosis, with 3-year-old colt Broadsiding finishing on for third, 10 lengths off the winner.
Second favorite Pride Of Jenni helped ensure the strong pace for Via Sistina's record, but didn't break out to the sort of distant lead seen from her through last season. Backing up a week after her three-quarter-length second in the 1,600-meter (about one mile) King Charles III Stakes (G1), Australia's Horse of the Year stopped quickly and finished eighth, looking well short of her autumn incarnation.
Waller was emotional after securing his fifth Cox Plate win to follow Winx's quartet, and his 168th group 1. He said after Via Sistina's histrionics of Tuesday, a return to the track on Thursday had worked to "get her confidence back".
"It was a big week but I've just had full support from the owners, my staff, all the team, Moonee Valley. It's just been overwhelming," he said, holding back tears.
McDonald was in awe of Via Sistina's performance.
"What this mare's been through, she's just an absolute star. I'm so lucky to be part of it," he said. "She's got an unbelievable sustained speed."
Via Sistina is the fifth and very much the best of seven named foals for the unraced Nigh, by Galileo. Suggesting major influence from Fastnet Rock in their mating during his shuttling career to Ireland, only one other of Nigh's offspring has won.
Via Sistina is another example of Fastnet's potency when crossed with daughters of Coolmore's perennial breed-shaping sire Galileo, with the mare among the nick's 29 stakes winners and she is also one of 11 group/grade 1 winners bred on the cross.
