Devil Night’s Blue Diamond triumph headlines brilliant day for Yulong
Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) – Newgate Farm’s sub-fertile sensation – has done it again, with his son Devil Night’s stirring victory in Saturday’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) once again showcasing the stallion’s ballistic siring prowess.
Three months after the ostensibly bloodline-defying Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) triumph of his son Knight’s Choice, Extreme Choice raised a fifth top tier winner when Devil Night gripped on to take Caulfield’s feature in a thrilling finish.
For the sake of more versatility from his sire, it came in the 1200-metre dash that’s the first juvenile Group 1 of the season, as Devil Night joined VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner She’s Extreme, Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) heroine Espiona, and Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) victor Stay Inside on Extreme Choice’s elite honour roll.
Headlining a brilliant day for Yulong, the colt also emulated his sire, who won the Blue Diamond in 2016, with the pair becoming the first stallion-offspring duo to achieve that feat since 2006, when Nadeem (Redoute’s Choice) replicated his famed father’s 1999 success in the race.
Extreme Choice – who scored his other top level win over even shorter in the MVRC Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) – now has 14 stakes winners from 115 runners at 12.2 per cent, from 1000 metres to 3200 metres.
The 11-year-old will wake up on Sunday morning at a personal best seventh on the Australian general sire’s list by earnings – and from just 66 runners, whereas the six stallions above him average 233.
Bred by Stay Inside’s breeders Kingstar Farm out of stakes-winning producer Mischief Night (Shamardal), Devil Night not only won the Blue Diamond as a maiden but became just the fourth horse to win it at start No.2 – again emulating Redoute’s Choice (Danehill).
His was also a victory validating the sales ring. A $1.4 million purchase for Yulong at Magic Millions Gold Coast, he was by far the most expensive runner in the 15-horse field, costing almost three times as much as the next highest.
Yulong’s eye for quality has been moulded into Group 1 success by his trainers Team Hawkes – and a colt who will no doubt become a stallion at Zheng Yuesheng’s Victorian farm.
Devil’s Night was the headline act of a stakes-winning treble at Caulfield on Saturday for Yulong, who also race Treasurethe Moment, winner of Angus Armanasco Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) while the operation’s Deny Knowledge saluted in the Victoria Gold Cup (Listed, 2000m).
Held up until December 10 for his first competitive appearance when he won a Rosehill barrier trial, Devil Night debuted only two weeks ago with a fighting 0.46 length second – at $41 – in the Blue Diamond Prelude (Gr 3, 1100m) behind Field Of Play (Deep Field), who started favourite in Saturday’s main event.
Despite drawing barrier two for Michael Dee in Saturday’s Group 1, Devil Night drifted in betting to start at $16 – upholding the history that showed the past five Blue Diamond winners had averaged $17 as a starting price.
But aside from a tight finish, the victory that meant so much in one of the country’s great stallion-makers came in fairly straightforward fashion.
Devil Night jumped brilliantly and parked off the rump of the anticipated leader, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s The Playwright (Written By).
With a two-length gap to third, Dee sent Devil Night to the front at the 300 metres, he led by a length and the 100 metres, and under hard riding had just enough in reserve to hold out the flying Godolphin homebred Tentyris (Street Boss) and score by 0.1 lengths.
In an all-colts trifecta, the Team Hayes-trained Tycoon Star (Written Tycoon) gave Yulong first and third, while fillies The Playwright and Eden Rose (Exceedance) took fourth and fifth.
Devil Night became the eighth colt to win the race in its past 11 editions, with all other seven going on to stud deals.
Again illustrating the Blue Diamond’s recent past as a punting puzzle, given all the nascent formlines flowing into this early season juvenile event, the first five across the line started at $16, $21, $17, $21 and $201.
Field Of Play was sixth as $4 favourite, Godolphin’s Tempted (Street Boss) seventh at $7.50, and the John McArdle-trained My Gladiola (I Am Invincible) eighth at $7.
Co-trainer Wayne Hawkes paid tribute to Yulong – and the vast fortune Zhang has invested in racing and breeding in recent years – as he reflected on the significance of such a win in the modern racing landscape.
“They [Yulong] certainly pay a lot of money for their horses. They paid a lot of money for this horse at the Magic Millions and to come out and win a Blue Diamond – wow,” he told Channel 7.
“I’ve got to thank Yulong. They’ve only got five horses with us. It’s a great effort and you know what, I just love doing that with the big colts.
“That’s what this game has become now – the big colts division.
“I know I’m saying this as the winning trainer, but they’ve put up their money, Yulong, and they’re the biggest owners in the country.
“Mr Zhang is not going backwards in going forwards, so to be fair, he deserves every bit of success he gets because no one’s putting any more money into the game than him.
“He’s feeding a lot of families, including mine.”
Despite his colt’s inexperience, Hawkes said he was confident before the race.
“I thought he’d be in the first four or five and I said to Mick [Dee], ‘Don’t overcomplicate it’,” Hawkes said.
“He’s never been on him but he’s a lovely horse. He does everything right, he’s improved out of sight from his run the other day.”
Asked about the tense finish, Hawkes said: “I’m not bagging Mick Dee, but he probably could have waited 50 more yards. At the 100 metres I was screaming, ‘Where is that winning post!’
“Winners are grinners and no one ever remembers what margin they win by.”
Dee said the race had evolved “a little bit differently than I anticipated”.
“I thought there would be a little more pressure than that,” he said. “I ended up outside the leader, basically by default. He was a little bit keen, travelled a little bit strong and he fought on well. Luckily he did.”
Bookmakers, however, were less than blown away with a view to the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m), edging Devil Night only in to $26 for the $5 million feature.
In contrast, fourth-starter Tycoon Star, whose rider Mark Zahra said might have won the race with a barrier better than 14, was wound in to $15.
Devil Night is the fifth foal of the unraced Mischief Night, who’s also the dam of dual Group 3 winner Our Playboy (Sebring).
After missing to Extreme Choice and his son Stay Inside in 2022, Mischief Night now has a Stay Inside weanling colt on the ground – a three-quarter brother to Devil Night. She was again covered by Extreme Choice in December, but missed.