Gooree right behind Prized Icon’s Tropical Squall for new owners
Commercial decision leads to decision to sell dual Group 1 winner
The decision by Gooree to sell Tropical Squall (Prized Icon), a two-time Group 1-winning filly last season, was a commercial one made to financially support the slimmed-down version of the internationally owned racing and breeding operation associated with some of Australia’s turf greats.
The Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner will open her four-year-old season in Saturday’s Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and for the first time her jockey Adam Hyeronimus will wear the bottle green and white checked silks of Yulong rather than Gooree’s renowned red and black horizontal-striped colours.
The famous colours of the late Eduardo Cojuangco have been associated with champions such as six-time Group 1 winner Desert War (Desert King) and 2002 Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Don Eduardo (Zabeel), and more recently Tropical Squall’s sire Prized Icon (More Than Ready), the young stallion based at the Lamont family’s Kooringal Stud in the heart of the New South Wales Riverina.
The private purchase of Tropical Squall by Zhang Yuesheng occurred shortly after she barrier trialled at Rosehill on July 23, her first of two public hitouts leading into the Winx Stakes, with the talented mare remaining in the care of trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott at Randwick for the new connections.
Gooree general manager Jeanette Tioseco described the deal between the two major international thoroughbred investors as “a very good business decision”.
“She has gone to a great home and we will still follow her and we wish that she goes on to reach her full potential at Yulong,” Tioseco told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We are proud of her sire Prized Icon, who is a Gooree stallion. When we purchased her, it was to support our stallion.”
Gooree paid Bhima Thoroughbreds, who were acting on behalf of Kooringal Stud, only $16,000 for Tropical Squall at the 2021 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale on the Gold Coast from her breeder Kooringal Stud to support the first crop of foals by its ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m)-winning stallion.
She has won four of her nine starts and banked more than $1 million in prize-money.
Since the death of Filipino Cojuangco in June 2020, Gooree has taken a much more commercial and streamlined approach to its thoroughbred racing and breeding interests, with the deal to sell Tropical Squall made as part of the change in direction established over the past two years.
That includes a partnership with Newgate Farm where the Gooree-bred and co-raced King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible), a Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) placegetter and Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m)-winning colt, is about to start his maiden season at stud at a fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
Gooree also retains ownership in the Twin Hills Stud-based stallions Hallowed Crown (Street Sense) and Smart Missile (Fastnet Rock) while Your Song (Fastnet Rock) stands at the Cojuangco-owned stud at Mudgee after beginning his stud career at Widden in the Hunter Valley.
Tioseco, who also oversees Gooree’s winery, Wagyu beef cattle stud and farmstay businesses alongside the thoroughbred arm of the operation, said racing and breeding remains an integral part of the Mudgee-based outfit.
“What Mrs Cojuangco says is, the Australian [racing] industry will always be in the heart of the family,” she said.
“It may not be at the same level and magnitude when Mr Eduardo Cojuangco was alive, but it will always be there.”
A band of about 42 mares remains in the ownership of Gooree with the vast majority of their progeny sold at yearling sales.
“Basically, the intention is to sell all of the yearlings. If there are yearlings that for whatever reason doesn’t make it because of some superficial issue, then we consider, ‘OK, should we race this or not?’,” Tioseco said.
An example of that is Lonhro’s Queen (Lonhro), a winner of four of her past five starts for Scone trainer Cameron Crockett, whose late father Max enjoyed a long association with Gooree.
Tropical Squall is an $8 third favourite in the Winx Stakes behind the Chris Waller-trained pair Fangirl (Sebring) ($2.20) and Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) ($6.50), another Yulong-owned Group 1-winning mare.