Yulong Runner at Royal Ascot Trained by Ciaron Maher

Tara Madgwick - Tuesday May 27

The Yulong colours will be seen at Royal Ascot next month with confirmation they have purchased outstanding US trained turf miler Carl Spackler, a five year-old Irish bred stallion by Lope de Vega.

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A triple Group I winner that has won eight of 12 starts for the Chad Brown stable, Carl Spackler will ultimately be headed to Australia, but will first target the Group I Queen Anne stakes at Royal Ascot with Ciaron Maher as his new trainer.

He galloped over half a miler at Saratoga on Sunday and is scheduled to fly to England this week as he prepares for his first run for Yulong on June 17, although connections will have to pay a let entry fee to start in the Queen Anne.

Ciaron Maher told Racing Post - "I feel very privileged and honoured to be given the opportunity to train a horse of this calibre for Mr Zhang and Yulong. The team and I are incredibly excited to race a genuine world-class horse and three-time Grade 1 winner on the world's biggest stage and represent Australian racing in the Queen Anne Stakes.

"We're equally as excited to have him travel to Australia after Ascot with the Cox Plate as his ultimate target, where we hope to continue Yulong's success in the race."

Carl Spackler was bred and raced by Bob Edwards of Five Racing Thoroughbreds, who also raced his mother Zindaya, a Group II winning daughter of More Than Ready.

Carl Spackler as a yearling.

Carl Spackler was offered at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale, but was bought back by his breeder for 350,000 guineas, which turned out to be a wise move.

He has won nearly US$2million in prizemoney and one can only imagine how much Yulong have paid for this super talented horse that has stallion credentials for the future.

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