Mr Zhang - A Passion for Learning

ZHANG YUESHENG

ZHANG YUESHENG IS QUICKLY BECOMING A MAJOR FIGURE IN INTERNATIONAL RACING AND BLOODSTOCK. HE TELLS LEO POWELL ABOUT HIS LOVE FOR THE SPORT AND APPETITE FOR FURTHER EXPANSION

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BELOW: Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland, Zhang Yuesheng and Kelsey Wang secure another Goffs purchase

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definition of passion is that it is ‘an intense desire or enthusiasm for something’.

Passion is the most appropriate word to use when it comes to describing Zhang Yuesheng’s feeling towards thoroughbred racing and breeding.

In an interview two years ago with The Irish Field, Mr Zhang was asked, as a parting question, what race he would most like to win as an owner. His reply was swift and succinct: “I would love to win the Irish Derby.”

This year he had a horse good enough to line up for Ireland’s premier Classic, though bad luck in the starting gate meant that the challenge was effectively over before it began. Thankfully, Mr Zhang’s lifetime involvement with horses has taught him to savour the good days and forget the rest, because owning racehorses is inevitably something of a rollercoaster ride.

The €200,000 Goffs yearling purchase Platinum Warrior, his Curragh Classic contender, will have many more opportunities to build on his victory earlier this year in the Group 3 Airlie Stud Gallinule Stakes, a race in which the son of Galileo had the

“HE HAS THREE STUD FARMS IN AUSTRALIA AND IN THE NEXT THREE TO FIVE YEARS HOPES TO HAVE THREE MORE”

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eventual Irish Derby hero Latrobe more than two lengths in arrears.

In the relatively short space of six or seven years, Zhang Yuesheng has become a wellknown name, not just in Ireland but also in Australia, America, Singapore and naturally enough in his native China. In the last-named he is seen as quite the trailblazer, with his vision for racing and local investment certain to become a template for others to follow. He is setting a high standard.

Mr Zhang has built very strong ties with Ireland and this has happened quickly and with lots of success. When did he first become aware of Ireland and its proud thoroughbred tradition? “That was in 2011, the first time I came to visit Ireland and started to get involved in purchasing Irish thoroughbreds. It was the promotion by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and BBA Ireland that brought Ireland to my attention and I started buying then,” he said.

“I grew up on the back of a horse you could say. At the beginning I was more involved with the world of eventing but, through ITM and BBA Ireland, I got to know more about the Irish

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ABOVE: Winning connections of Yulong Baobei following the Listed Excelebration Stakes at Tipperary. BELOW: Mr Zhang leads in Johnny Murtagh aboard Curragh winner Yulong Bauju in 2013

thoroughbred and developed my passion and my love for them,” he added.

Ireland holds a special place in Mr Zhang’s heart, even though his interests have spread worldwide. He currently has three stud farms in Australia and in the next three to five years hopes to have a quality stallion station, a well populated breeding farm and a third stud where his runners will be spelled and young stock raised. Ambition and energy are qualities Mr Zhang has in abundance, and Ireland could yet benefit in the future from his growing equine empire.

“With the expansion of our global operation, it is likely that in the same timeframe we will have a stud farm in the northern hemisphere. Ireland could be an obvious candidate for such a place,” Mr Zhang explained.

Fuelling Mr Zhang’s deepening connection with Ireland is the strong relationship he enjoys with BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe.

He is quick to point out the important qualities that make Donohoe his trusted advisor in Ireland. “Michael is a great help and a great friend. Importantly his connection to a horse doesn’t end after the purchase. He constantly

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ABOVE: Yulong Gold Fairy lands the Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Race at Naas last October. LEFT: The impressive set-up at the Shanxi Province facility

phones up, giving us updates and news. The follow up he provides is very important,” he explained.

A hugely successful businessman and entrepreneur, Mr Zhang surrounds himself with the best people and advisors, thus allowing him to spend as much time as he does indulging in his passion for racing.

Horses are far from being his core business. However, he devotes as much time as he can to learning more about the business, and this is not an easy task given his lack of English.

What might well be a deterrent to most is no hindrance to Mr Zhang in his pursuit of knowledge. “Mr Zhang possesses an amazing photographic memory for horses, pedigrees, lot numbers and more,” says Eric Koh. Mention any horse in his ownership and Mr Zhang can reel off all the information you want to know. “At the beginning [2012] I was only starting to learn about Irish racing, but through years of equine related globe-trotting experience I have learned a great deal more.”

On the day of our interview Mr Zhang received news of a victory in Australia for the David Hayes-trained Sikandarabad, a five-year-old Aga Khan-bred son of Dr Fong who was purchased by Michael Donohoe at last year’s Goffs Champions Sale in Leopardstown for just €50,000. The improving five-year-old will now have his sights set on some lucrative prize money down under. In a further update since the interview, the Darren Weir-trained Haripour became the latest winner for Mr Zhang’s Yulong Investments in Australia. Haripour was also bought through Donohoe from the Aga Khan Studs at the Goffs Champions Sale 2017.

Sikandarabad and Haripour are not the first Aga Khan-bred horses that Mr Zhang has done well with. Embiran, bought for just €35,000 at the 2016 Goffs Horses In Training Sale, was crowned the 2017 Horse of The Year in China by the Yulong Jockey Club. The winner is chosen by a combination of racing performance and a popular vote among racing fans. When he was trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld the Curragh maiden winner was also placed in the Listed Tetrarch Stakes.

Having won six of his 12 starts in China, the Shamardal five-year-old Embiran headlined the first thoroughbred sale held on the mainland in China this past May, selling for the equivalent of about €180,000. The following day he added to his tally of victories with success in the fivefurlong Irish Adult Sprinters Stakes on the sand track.

Innovation is a byword of Mr Zhang’s modus operandi, and having the first ever thoroughbred sale is typical of the type of project he is happy to become involved with. Even more ambitious is the fact that he built and runs a racecourse at Youyu, Shanxi Province in China. This is a first-class facility which has been in operation now for two years since a total rebuild and refurbishment. Vitally, and strategically, the enterprise receives great support from the local government.

Mr Zhang expanded on this. “The local government has been very supportive, especially when they see the benefits that accrue to the economy from tourism generated by visitors to our racetrack. Therefore they are helping to promote the sport and we have seen officials from other regions coming to see our model.”

Though just in its infancy, racing there is attracting a growing audience to the track and on television, recently broadcasting live to an audience of 4.8 million people.

The Yulong racing centre development, in the province of Shanxi, is now home to more than 600 horses and has been seeing increasing number of new racehorse owners. In January 2017 a plane landed in China with 76 horses on board, a €3 million airlift, months after Mr Zhang - assisted by

“EVEN MORE AMBITIOUS IS THE FACT THAT HE BUILT AND RUNS A RACECOURSE AT YOUYU, SHANXI PROVINCE IN CHINA”

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FROM TOP: Mr Zhang and Eric Koh at the 2018 Goffs London Sale; Goffs Chairman Eimear Mulhern presents Mr Zhang with his award for Whitefountainfairy at the AIRO Awards 2017

Michael Donohoe - bought 39 yearlings over two days at the Goffs Open Yearling Sale.

With utmost transparency, Mr Zhang offers all owners the first choice of the horses he imports, never keeping the best for himself. While most of these sales take place privately, he also intends to hold at least two public auctions a year.

Racing in Shanxi, China takes place from May to about mid-October and races usually attract average fields of about 10 runners. Conscious of the burgeoning nature of the racing product in China, most of the international names associated with the industry are keen to sponsor races at Yulong and the Irish day in August is a particularly successful initiative.

“In China the racing industry is just starting to move forward and the last few years have seen growth and development. Several major racecourses in China are hosting racing seasons and the future is bright.

“I think it is important to say that racing that will be the major growth area and not betting.

The Chinese government is very cautious about introducing betting and it is not allowed presently.

The Chinese market is huge and that is why I believe it will grow rapidly without betting,” he explained.

In Ireland Mr Zhang has horses in training with

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a large number of trainers, including Michael Halford, Dermot Weld, Sheila Lavery, John Oxx, Jessica Harrington and Willie McCreery. In the past he has also used Eddie Lynam, Johnny Murtagh, Joseph O’Brien and Robbie McNamara.

Mr Zhang has enjoyed group race success with Platinum Warrior, Yulong BaoBei, trained by Michael Halford gave him his first Stakes victory at Tipperary two years ago, while Yulong Gold Fairy landed the valuable Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Race Final at Naas last October.

“I was thrilled and delighted that Yulong BaoBei gave me my first stakes win, and it was in Ireland,” Mr Zhang said.

What are the qualities he looks for in a trainer? “It all boils down to chemistry and how they bring out the best in the horses under their charge. With larger numbers of horses now in training I want to find the right trainer for the right horse. Results are very important alongside the well-being of my horses.”

Mr Zhang says that first impressions count highly when it comes to choosing a horse, just as it can do with people. “It is like first love – fate and destiny play a big part. Yes, there are certain minimum requirements to be a successful runner, and a pedigree is very important.”

Is it significant that the Zhang racing silks are green, the colour most often seen as representative of Ireland? “Well, green is the corporate colour of my company and that is why when we designed the silks we chose it.

When I first came to Ireland I also studied some of the culture of the country and it all clicked with green also being a colour of the Irish!”

As an international owner, with vast experience now of racing in many different jurisdictions, what advice does Mr Zhang have for the Irish racing authorities? He is unequivocal in his reply. “It is essential that prize money levels are not only maintained but that they are increased.

Compared with Australia, America, Singapore and Hong Kong, they are relatively low.

“I believe you will attract more owners to race on the flat in Ireland if prize money levels are improved. Yes, owners want fun but they also don’t want to lose too much money. If you reward owners it will increase their motivation, and that becomes a positive circle.”

In 2017 Mr Zhang travelled to Ireland to receive a Goffs-sponsored award at the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners’ annual dinner. This recognised the fact that he had purchased the smart Whitefountainfairy as a yearling for €3,000 at the Goffs Sportsman’s Sale and the subsequent Fairyhouse maiden winner was sold nine months later for a whopping £300,000 at the Goffs London Sale. The sale also showed that the astute owner keeps a sharp eye on the commercial side of his business.

“I guess I’ve been advised enough over the years to be open to selling.

Owning racehorses started as a hobby but, as I expand into wider aspects of the industry, and in particular the breeding side of things, I also have to be commercially driven,” Mr Zhang says.

Zhang Yuesheng is becoming more and more familiar at the ringsides of sales companies and racecourses throughout the world, not least in Ireland, and the successful start he has made is likely to mushroom to greater in the years to come. Who knows, that much coveted Irish Derby triumph might well become a reality soon.

“THE CHINESE MARKET IS HUGE AND THAT IS WHY I BELIEVE IT WILL GROW RAPIDLY WITHOUT BETTING”

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