Yulong buys into Alabama Express
Moroney’s Group 1-winning son of Redoute’s Choice to stand in Victoria
Last-start C F Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) will stand at stud in Victoria once his racing career is over after Yulong struck a deal to buy into the talented three-year-old.
Alabama Express, who is trained by Mike Moroney, will join Yulong’s foundation stallion Grunt (O’Reilly), the most supported first season sire in Victoria last year, at owner Yuesheng Zhang’s Nagambie farm upon his retirement.
Negotiations between Yulong Investments and connections of Alabama Express ramped up in the past few days before confirmation of a controlling interest in the colt was made on Tuesday.
The son of breed-shaping stallion Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) will endeavour to double his Group 1 tally in Saturday’s Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington where he has drawn barrier six in the field of eight.
Yulong chief operating officer Sam Fairgray, speaking from the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale yesterday, declared the acquisition as being “great for Yulong, great for Victoria and we are really pleased to be able to get a horse of this quality to stand at our farm”.
“To secure a weight-for-age, Group 1-winning son of Redoute’s Choice is fantastic and there is a lot of upside with him,” Fairgray told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“His win in the Orr had huge merit because he was trapped wide yet he was so strong to the line.
“He’s also out of an Encosta De Lago mare and if you look at sons of Redoute’s Choice that have done well, Not A Single Doubt is out of a Rory’s Jester mare; Snitzel’s out of a Snippets mare and Beneteau was also out of an Encosta De Lago mare, so it is pretty exciting going forward to have a horse of his quality.”
Alabama Express is raced by a syndicate that includes Arrowfield Stud, prominent New Zealand investor Lib Petagna and leviathan owner Rupert Legh, who also raced the dual Group 1-winning, Mick Price-trained Grunt.
He has won four of his seven starts, including the Gothic Stakes (Listed, 1400m) last spring as well as both runs this campaign, most notably the Orr Stakes second-up against older horses.
A $280,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale graduate from the Arrowfield Stud draft, Alabama Express was selected by Moroney’s brother, and renowned agent, Paul in 2018.
He is one of three winners for the raced mare Lago Ovation (Encosta De Lago), who is a half-sister to Rekindled Power (Redoute’s Choice), who was Group 2-placed in Sydney, and the ATC Carbine Club Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m)-placed Shuffle Up (Redoute’s Choice).
Paul Moroney said: “He had a lot of his dad, Redoute’s Choice, about him (as a yearling). He was a great moving horse and to me, he was a standout on class.
“He’s obviously taken that quality of his looks across to the racetrack and he’s proven himself as a high-quality racehorse.
“He’s got all the hallmarks of making a great stallion prospect – he’s a Group 1 winner, he’s athletic, he’s a standout on type and he’s got a lot of his dad about him.
“We’ve always thought that he was a miler, so I’m excited to see him step up to that distance this weekend. We thought that from the day we bought him as a yearling.”
Alabama Express will arguably be the best-credentialed son of Redoute’s Choice, who died in March 2019, to stand in Victoria in recent years.
Arrowfield Stud’s decision to relinquish its share in Alabama Express was crucial in ensuring the colt stayed in Victoria for stud duties, which Fairgray said could be delayed until 2021, depending on how the remainder of the colt’s autumn campaign panned out.
“With the group of mares that we have got on the farm, with a lot by Zabeel and a lot of Street Cry mares, he will be very well supported in his early years at stud,” he said.
“Arrowfield are selling out their share as they have got The Autumn Sun, so they have decided that they were happy for us to buy him, so that is another coup for us.”
Redoute’s Choice has 28 weanlings from his final crop born last year, comprising of 17 colts and 11 fillies.