By Daithi Harvey
The opening race on Meydan's 'Super Saturday' card was the Listed Al Bastakiya for 3-year-olds on the dirt, and it produced an impressive winner in Yulong Warrior (Street Cry {Ire}). The Satish Seemar-trained colt was drawn one in the 9 1/2-furlong event and he was able to make use of that kind draw, always on the front end traveling strongly in the hands of Richard Mullen. As potential challengers began to drop off the pace, including the favourite Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), who never looked comfortable on the surface, Yulong Warrior continued to cruise along in front and from 300 metres out, he began to draw further clear before ultimately crossing the line 11 lengths in front of Nordic Defense (Fr) (Makfi {GB}), with Rua Augusta (Arch) another couple of lengths back in third.
“It all worked out very well for him, he got the good draw, he had a nice month off, he was training well and we added the cheekpieces to get him straight,” Satish Seemar reported after the race. Having broken his maiden over a mile at Meydan on Feb. 18, Seemar said he was confident of further improvement over the extended distance on Saturday and when asked if the G2 UAE Derby would be next on the agenda he replied in the affirmative while also adding, “I'd always thought he was going to improve with more distance and it proved when we ran him over a mile and longer.”
As his name suggests, Yulong Warrior was formerly owned by the Chinese Yulong Group head Zhang Yuesheng, for whom he ran twice, initially when second to subsequent G1 Phoenix S. victor Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) in a maiden at Cork last May when trained by Michael Halford before he occupied the same slot behind Treasuring (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) in a maiden at Naas. Connections then decided to bring him to market, where he fetched £360,000 at the Goffs London Sale to the bid of Satish Seemar. He remained with Michael Halford for his next two starts, but had the misfortune to bump into another Ballydoyle hot-pot when second to subsequent G2 Champagne S. winner Seahenge (Scat Daddy) at Naas, and was third to future stakes winner Riyazan (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) at The Curragh.
A $180,000 purchase by BBA Ireland and Yulong Investments at Keeneland in September of 2016, the winner was bred by Mossarosa LLC out of the Bernardini mare Mahkama, who was a juvenile winner in England and who is a half-sister to American graded stakes winner Summer Raven (Summer Squall). Mahkama has since foaled colts by Noble Mission (GB) and Street Sense and was covered in 2017 by Will Take Charge. Click for the Racing Post result. VIDEO.
AL BASTAKIYA SPONSORED BY EMIRATES.COM-Listed, $250,000, MEY, 3-10, 3yo, 9 1/2f, 1:58.05, ft.
1–YULONG WARRIOR, 121, c, 3, by Street Cry (Ire)
1st Dam: Mahkama, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Rahy Rose, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Rose Park, by Plugged Nickle
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN ($180,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP; £360,000 HRA
'17 GOFLON). O-Avni Kapoor, Charnesh Kapoor & Nirav
Kapoor; B-Mossarosa, Llc (FL); T-Satish Seemar; J-Richard
Mullen. $150,000. Lifetime Record: 7-2-3-1, $188,581.
2–Nordic Defense (Fr), 121, c, 3, Makfi (GB)–Angel Falls (GB), by
Kingmambo. (€110,000 Ylg '16 AROCT). O-Stall Bright Side of
Life & Stall Zuccini. $50,000.
3–Rua Augusta, 121, c, 3, Arch–Wend, by Pulpit. ($22,000 RNA
Ylg '16 KEESEP; £65,000 2yo '17 ASCAPR; 61,905gns 2yo '17
TATAPR; 52,000gns HRA '17 TATAUT). O-Ahmad Bintooq Al
Marri. $25,000.
Margins: 11HF, 2, 4HF.
Also Ran: Waqqad, Roy Orbison (Arg), Last Voyage, Gotti, El Chapo (GB), Arroway, Masar (Ire), Daffg, Racing Country (Ire), Mutamayel (Aus).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
