Alabama Express retires to Yulong
Victorian stud continues its expansion by adding a second stallion to its 2020 roster
Group 1-winning three-year-old Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice), a horse that trainer Mike Moroney says could have “potentially been the best horse I have trained”, has been retired and will stand at Yulong this spring.
Yulong announced the retirement of Alabama Express last night, with this year’s C F Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner set to join Grunt (O’Reilly) as part of their stallion cohort in 2020. By Redoute’s Choice out of an Encosta De Lago mare, he combines the same sire lines as Beneteau (Redoute’s Choice) and Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
“Obviously, Redoute’s Choice has been a great stallion himself and a sire of sires so we had been keeping an eye on sons of Redoute’s Choice,” Yulong’s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. “We thought he was an ideal stallion prospect being out of an Encosta De Lago mare, which is the same cross as Beneteau, who was well on the path to sitting alongside Not A Single Doubt and Snitzel until his untimely passing. He’s got the performance and he will suit the Australian broodmare band as well.”
Alabama Express was bred by Jonathan Munz’s GSA Bloodstock and was the fourth and final foal out of Lago Ovation (Encosta De Lago). The bay hails from a family that traces back to top Italian filly Bubinka (Nashua), his fifth dam, with the likes of Rekindled Interest (Redoute’s Choice), Designs On Rome (Holy Roman Emperor), Romanised (Holy Roman Emperor), Grey Swallow (Daylami) and Covert Love (Azamour) also from his wider family.
Sent to the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from the Arrowfield Stud draft, he was purchased by Paul Moroney Bloodstock for $280,000 for Rupert Legh, with Moroney’s brother Mike to train.
“Alabama Express was just a cracking athlete and he had a lot of quality, with a great mind,” Paul Moroney said. “He had a lot of his dad, Redoute’s Choice, about him. He was a great moving horse and to me, he was a stand-out on class. He’s got all the hallmarks to make a great stallion – he’s a Group 1 winner, he’s athletic and he’s a stand-out on type.”
The similarities to the legendary Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) are particularly striking to Fairgray, who was Arrowfield Stud’s operations manager for 14 years and was closely involved with the three-time Australian Champion Sire.
“I was lucky enough to work at Arrowfield for several years with Redoute’s Choice,” Fairgray recalled. “He has so many characteristics of his father. You get glimpses of his head and you think, ‘My god, that’s your father through and through.’ It’s really exciting to have a son of Redoute’s Choice and he’s going to get a great opportunity here at Yulong.”
Both Alabama Express and Grunt raced in the navy, gold and white colours of Legh. Alabama Express is the third freshman sire next season to have been owned by Legh, along with Newgate Farm’s Brutal (O’Reilly) and Vinery Stud’s Exceedance (Exceed And Excel).
Legh expressed to ANZ Bloodstock News earlier this year that he had included a clause to race Alabama Express into his four-year-old season and beyond, but Fairgray said that circumstances – both market forces due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the virus which saw him end up in Werribee Animal Hospital after finishing last in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) – had seen the decision made to retire him to stud earlier than planned.
“There was consideration to racing him on, but with everything that has happened over the last few months, we just feel that the timing is right to retire him to stud,” Fairgray said. “We’ll support him with some very nice mares and give him a great opportunity into the future.”
Mike Moroney added: “He’s retiring with a lot more to give, but I understand why he’s being retired too. He did have that virus as well and that could have made things difficult if he didn’t come up in the spring. It’s an understandable decision.
“However, he did have more to give. Potentially, he is the best horse I’ve had. He’d just hit his straps and now he’s off to stud. It’s pretty hard to tell, of course, but as far as natural ability goes, he has it as much as any horse that I’ve trained. He had speed and a great temperament to match. From the day we started moving him up, he was a natural.”
Alabama Express raced only once as a two-year-old, winning a maiden at Sale. However, Moroney said that he’d been planning a Brisbane raid for the J J Atkins (Gr 1, 1600m) until a minor setback ruled him out until the spring.
“He won his only start as a two-year-old and he was going to chase his Group 1 in Queensland,” Moroney explained. “Then he had a small problem with a hock and we had to operate, it was just the band that holds the ligaments together, it was swelling a bit so we had to go in and nick it. It’s a simple operation and that cost him black-type as a two-year-old.”
At three, he won the Gothic Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at Caulfield when sitting handy, before travelling near the rear and making ground late when midfield in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
An off-season three-year-old handicap win over the Flemington 1100 metres earned him a spot in the C F Orr Stakes, where he sat three wide and handy before fighting on strongly to the line. Seven Group 1 winners were in behind: Fierce Impact (Deep Impact), Kings Will Dream (Casamento), Fifty Stars (Sea The Stars), Avilius (Pivotal), Scales Of Justice (Not A Single Doubt), Begood Toya Mother (Myboycharlie) and Hey Doc (Duporth).
“In the end, he was one of the only three-year-olds in the autumn to beat the horses at weight-for-age and the only one to do it at the highest level,” Moroney said. “And the day he did it, he had a torrid trip, he sat three-wide and he still beat them. It was a great performance. Obviously Yes Yes Yes did it in the spring, but we were expecting it to happen more in the autumn and yet he was the one.”
Zhang Yuesheng’s Yulong is one of the newest players in the Victorian breeding industry, having purchased the former Limerick Lane in 2018 and now presents two stallions to the market. A third, this season’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa), has been acquired by Yulong and is likely to join the roster in 2021.
A 10-stallion barn at the farm is nearing completion and they have been acquiring a handy broodmare band. Among their purchases over the last two years have been stakes winners Bleu Roche (Fastnet Rock) and Gypsy Diamond (Not A Single Doubt), as well as Gypsy Diamond’s dam Gypsy Tucker (Zabeel); others include I Am Invincible’s (Invincible Spirit) half-sister Shoot The Breeze (All American); Arizona Belle (Redoute’s Choice), a half-sister to Fiorente (Monsun); and Better Alternative (Flying Spur), the dam of four-time Group 1 winner Preferment (Zabeel).
“It’s starting to build,” Fairgray said. “We’ve built up some really nice broodmares and the stallion facility is just about complete. Now it’s a process of going out and finding the stallions that we think will suit the Australian broodmare population. Grunt and Alabama Express, obviously as our first couple, are going to be really well supported with the broodmare band that Yulong have got. And Tagaloa is likely to join them next year too.
“Mr Zhang is really committed to Victoria and he’s not slowing down so it is exciting times ahead. Alabama Express is a very good-looking horse and he will be really well received by broodmare owners here in Victoria. It’s exciting for the Victorian industry that Mr Zhang is so passionate and he is passionate about Victoria. He is providing the industry with the opportunity to breed to stallions like Alabama Express.”
Fees for Grunt and Alabama Express will be announced in the coming weeks.