Yulong spend a fortune buying high class race mares from all over the world, but undoubtedly have produced one themselves in the shape of Alabama Express filly Treasurethe Moment, who won her seventh consecutive race at Rosehill on Tuesday when taking out the $750,000 Group I ATC Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m).
A homebred for Yulong trained by Matt Laurie, Treasurethe Moment won the Group I VRC Oaks last spring and added a second G1 victory to her resume with this stylish length and a half win under her regular rider Damian Lane.
It was the first run in Sydney for Treasurethe Moment, who has been utterly dominant over the Victorian fillies and her trainer believes she will take benefit from the run.
“She's the dream horse,” said Matt Laurie.
“She'll learn a lot from today, I think. She got a little bit lost, she sort of didn't have that trail you know, they spread out enough and she was just sort of sitting out on a limb with nothing really there to follow, but then when she got into it, she was really good late.
“She's only going to be better for the experience, and it's great to win another Group One and great to win another Group One win for Yulong.”
Laurie is confident heading towards her grand final in the Group I ATC Australian Oaks (2400m) in two weeks time on April 19.
“She's proven at that distance, and she's going to lap it up,” said Laurie, who revealed the filly had thrived since arriving from Melbourne.
“She's just gotten better and better. We've been here for about nearly a fortnight and she lost a little bit of weight on the way up and wasn't completely settled, but as we got deeper into it, she has just looked better and better, and I was very pleased with her today.
“With two weeks into the Oaks, she will be perfect.”
Treasurethe Moment has the overall record of eight wins and two seconds from 10 starts with prizemoney of $1.8million.
She is the best of two winners from Street Cry import Draconic Treasure (USA), who died in 2022 after producing just three foals for Yulong and the other two are also fillies, so there is a little bit of this family to go on with.
Draconic Treasure comes from an international family that has produced some notable horses including Group I winning sprinter Rich Tapestry and also Melbourne Cup winner Media Puzzle, so there is some real diversity on the page!
The first foal from Draconic Treasure is a Frankel filly called Kind Treasure that retired to Yulong unraced and produced a filly by Grunt last spring before visiting Alabama Express.
The second is the now four year-old Grunt mare Mihoko Takeo, who was bought by Tasmanian trainer Adam Trinder from Yulong at Inglis Premier in 2022 for $45,000 and ran with modest success for stable client Wayne Roser winning two of 14 starts. Her current stable return shows her in training with Bathurst trained Dean Mirfin in new ownership, but you can’t help thinking her real future will be at stud!
