Magical afternoon at the Curragh for Yuesheng Zhang

Magical Lagoon brought her late sire Galileo ever closer to an unprecedented century of Group 1 winners with a tenacious triumph in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh.

Jessica Harrington's Ribblesdale winner is a rare Group 1 winner for Galileo bred by Coolmore but not sporting any of their silks, as she was sold through Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh's WH Bloodstock at the 2020 Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale.

Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland bought the half-sister to Novellist, whose Group 1 successes included the King George at Ascot, for 305,000gns on behalf of Yuesheng Zhang's Yulong Investments.

Novellist won four Group 1 contests in four different countries at three and four, with the son of Monsun then being acquired for stallion duties in Japan, where he has so far failed to have much of an impact.

Their dam Night Lagoon has also produced the German Group 3 and Listed second Nuntius, by Dalakhani, and the Listed-placed Bernardini gelding Neruda.

Her Selkirk daughter Ninfea was second in a Listed contest at Hannover and is the dam of Nemean Lion, a son of Golden Horn who was second in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay for Andre Fabre and Godolphin, and she is also the dam of Nayala, a winner and Listed-placed Maxios mare.

Night Lagoon was bred and owned by Dr Christoph Beglar and bought privately by Coolmore after the emergence of Novellist. She was Germany's champion two-year-old of 2003 following her victory in the country's premier juvenile fillies' contest, the Group 3 Preis der Winterkonigin.

By German Derby winner Lagunas, she is a half-sister to the dual Listed winner and German Derby runner-up Night Tango and out of Nenuphar, a Listed-winning daughter of Night Shift. Nenuphar is a half-sister to the Listed winners National Academy and Nostro Amico.

Magical Lagoon, who is Galileo's 96th top-level winner, is the last reported living foal out of her now 21-year-old dam. Night Lagoon was covered by Frankel in 2019 and 2020 and visited Circus Maximus last year.

Speaking on RTE television after the race, Michael Donohoe provided some insight into the level of Yulong's involvement in Irish racing.

"This is huge for Mr Zhang," commented the BBA Ireland agent. "He is a great supporter of Ireland and Irish racing, and is a big fan of Jessie and Shane Foley. He has 35 horses in training here so it's not too bad getting a Classic winner from that number of horses."

Donohoe added that Zhang has around 100 horses in total in Ireland, and the businessman was recently in the country to inspect his stock, which includes his Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner Lucky Vega. The son of Lope De Vega was also placed in the Middle Park, 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes for Harrington and Foley.

Lucky Vega commenced his stud career at Yulong's Victorian base last year and shuttled to the Irish National Stud for the 2022 breeding season. He has returned to Australia to stand his second southern hemisphere season before travelling back to Ireland for the spring.

In what will be seen as a further sign of Zhang's commitment to the Irish breeding industry, Donohoe confirmed that the coal mining and transportation magnate will be back for the upcoming yearling sales where he will continue to increase the investment in his bloodstock portfolio.

"We will keep the quality up as he is looking for stallions and broodmares of Magical Lagoon's calibre," said Donohoe.

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