\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Trevor Marshallsea\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Yulong\u2019s pin-up mare Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) will strive to join the select group of dual Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) winners on Saturday before a packed crowd at Moonee Valley \u2013 but with one notable absentee.<\/p>\n
Zhang Yuesheng, Yulong\u2019s founder, will be in China as his absence from the Australian scene continues, though the green and white empire has confirmed he will be back to oversee his stud\u2019s draft at the Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast in January.<\/p>\n
Yulong has offered an explanation as to Zhang\u2019s recent surprising absence, saying the company\u2019s boss has been tied up with business in China and will likely return here in December.<\/p>\n
Though a constant presence at major Australian race meetings involving his horses in recent years, Zhang was an absentee from Saturday\u2019s Everest meeting, in which Yulong had two runners in the main event in Angel Capital (Harry Angel) and Magic Time (Hellbent).<\/p>\n
He was also not present at last week\u2019s Inglis Ready2Race Sale, or for Via Sistina\u2019s last-start third in Flemington\u2019s Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) on October 4.<\/p>\n
While Zhang\u2019s absences sparked surprise and speculation in some quarters, Yulong general manager Jun Zhang said the company\u2019s owner had had to catch up on business in China, where he has vast coal mining holdings among other ventures, since he had spent considerable time in Australia recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just business things that couldn\u2019t make him be here,\u201d Jun Zhang, who is also Zhang\u2019s son-in-law, told ANZ News.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a lot of government meetings and a lot of jobs he couldn\u2019t finish, and [had to] catch up with local government.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they do have a lot of meetings with him, so this is the main reason he couldn\u2019t push his meetings back in China.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jun Zhang said the Yulong principal would return in time for Magic Millions Gold Coast which gets underway on January 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be coming back probably in December,\u201d he said. \u201cHe will be here for the Magic Millions January sale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, Jun Zhang sent a text message to a range of breeding industry participants to address rumours which have circulated surrounding Zhang Yuesheng\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to take a moment to address the recent rumours about Yulong, they\u2019re completely untrue,\u201d Jun Zhang wrote in the text, seen by ANZ.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you all for your concern and support. I\u2019m sorry this kind of talk has been circulating and causing some unnecessary distraction. Let\u2019s stay focused on what really matters which is enjoying the racing season and continuing the great work we\u2019re all doing together.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally appreciate everyone\u2019s effort and commitment to Yulong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Via Sistina is favourite at around $2.20 for the last Cox Plate before Moonee Valley\u2019s redevelopment, in a field reduced to eight on Thursday by the scratching of Globe (Charm Spirit).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Trevor Marshallsea Listen Yulong\u2019s pin-up mare Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) will strive to join the select group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-220124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}