OWNER Zhang Yueshang has been a major buyer at the sales in Goffs for some years now but last year he sold a pair of two-year-olds for a total of £660,000 at the Goffs London Sale, held on the eve of Royal Ascot. The Michael Halford-trained, American-bred Street Cry (Machiavellian) colt Yulong Warrior was bought by Satish Seemar for the lion’s share of that, £360,000, having cost $180,000 as a yearling at Keeneland.

Last year Yulong Warrior earned the label of being the unluckiest maiden in training. He was placed four times in maidens and the five horses who finished ahead of him were listed or group winning two-year-olds subsequently. They are Sioux Nation (Group 1 Phoenix Stakes), Treasuring (Group 3 Curragh Stakes), Seahenge (Group 2 Champagne Stakes), Riyazan (Listed Star Appeal Stakes) and Nelson (Group 3 Champions Juvenile Stakes).

Disappointing on his UAE debut in early January, Yulong Warrior made swift amends a month later when winning over a mile. He was stepped up to nine and a half furlongs for his most recent outing, the Listed Al Bastakiya, and he could not have been more impressive, winning by more than 11 lengths and putting himself firmly in the picture for group race success this year.

Yulong Warrior was bred in the USA by Missarosa Llc and sold through Lane’s End as a yearling to BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohue and Yulong Investments. He is a son of Street Cry who died in 2014. That winner of the Dubai World Cup went on to become a leading sire worldwide and among his outstanding runners are the likes of Street Sense, Zenyatta and Winx.

The dam of Yulong Warrior is the Bernardini (A P Indy) mare Mahkama and she has had quite a rollercoaster of a career in the sales ring. The now nine-year-old was bred by Mt Brilliant Farm and sold as a yearling to John Ferguson for $270,000. Sold on as a four-year-old for $145,000 in January 2013, she reappeared 10 months later at Keeneland again and changed hands for $700,000. Two years later she again moved farms, being snapped up for only $60,000 at Fasig-Tipton.

Mahkama made eight starts when trained by Saeed bin Suroor and won over six furlongs on the all-weather at Kempton as a juvenile and was runner-up over the same trip on the grass at Goodwood. Yulong Warrior is her first runner and winner. Mahkama is one of half a dozen winners for her dual-winning dam Ray Rose (Rahy). The best of these was the Grade 3 winner Summer Raven (Summer Squall).

In addition to being a graded stakes winner at two, Summer Raven has gone on to become a very successful broodmare, three of her offspring to date landing graded stakes wins. Best of the three is Mahkama’s close relation Lewis Bay (Berndardini) and four of her five wins have been graded races, including the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes and Gazelle Stakes, both run at Aqueduct. She was also runner-up in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes.

Grade 3 winning full-brothers Misconnect (Unbridled’s Song) and Winslow Homer are other star runners for Rahy Rose and she is also grandam of the Grade 3 winning filly Lost Raven (Uncle Mo). Go back to Rose Park (Plugged Nickle), the stakes-winning third dam of Yulong Warrior, and you find the first Group or Grade 1 winner in the immediate family. She had six offspring to run and win and heading this group was Wild Rush (Wild Again). He was an ultra-smart four-year-old in the USA when he won both the Metropolitan Handicap and Carter Handicap and his sire won the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1984. Wild Rush had some success at stud but not before he was exported to Japan where he became the sire of the dual Group 1 Japan Cup winner Buena Vista.