-Charl Pretorius, Turf Talk
GR1 Daily News winner Surcharge, re-named Yulong Prince after changing hands last August in a deal struck by John Freeman, is on his way to Mike de Kock’s stable in Dubai along with several other members of the yard that will join the South African’s 2019 Dubai string.
Yulong Prince is now owned by Yulong Stables, the racing interest of Chinese coal mining magnate, windfarm and hotel billionaire Zhang Yuesheng, who was in the news just recently when he bought a slot
in Redzel for the Everest Sprint, spending $600,000.
Yuesheng’s ambition is to establish a global racing empire. He has raced mostly in Singapore with his horses spread with trainers including James Peters, Stephen Gray and Desmond Koh and is on record saying that he’d like to win a race on Dubai WorldCup night, “within five years”.
While Yulong Prince will present that kind of opportunity, De Kock noted that the 2019 QE11 Cup in
Hong Kong will also be an option. He told Turf Talk: “Yulong Prince will be arriving a month late in Dubai
along with several others, so we’ll be behind in his preparation. He could be a Dubai Turf horse and we’ll be looking at the big Hong Kong races.
Others in De Kock’s Dubai contingent include Majestic Mambo, Marinaresco, Last Winter (for Dean Kannemeyer)
and Fire Away, bought as a stallion in the US but with racing prospects before he goes to stud. Janoobi flew the South African flag last season when winning a Grade 2 Zabeel Mile and running on the heels of Blairhouse and Benbatl in the Grt1 Jebel Hatta.
“I’m expecting Janoobi to do a whole lot better next next season.. He is very capable. When asked whether he had a possible Dubai World Cup contender, he quickly responded: “Not that I’m aware of. We’ll only race on the grass on World Cup Night. No dirt, to be honest.”
