You can now chalk up another country where the progeny of Bullbars has been successful, with his son Mongolian Lightning becoming one of the premier horses in the burgeoning racing industry in China.
Mongolian Lightning, out of the Last Tycoon mare It’s Spring Again, was born and reared at Highview Stud. He was sold at the 2015 Ready to Run Sale to Rider Horse China for $90,000 and was sent to be trained by the Champion training partnership Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. Rider Horse China, headed by Mr Lang Lin, has been a great supporter of the NZ racing industry in recent years racing many horses under the “Mongolian” moniker, most notably Mongolian Khan.
Mongolian Lightning’s racing career started in impressive fashion with a smashing victory in a 2YO race over 1,200m at Matamata, winning by eight and a half lengths.
His debut 3YO start was in the Listed Northland Breeders Stakes where he finished fifth – ahead of him that day were Heroic Valour (a Gp1 winning 2YO), The Soultaker (subsequent Gp 3 winner) and Wyndspelle (subsequent Gp 1 placegetter in Australia). He followed this with a third placing in the Gp 3 Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellersile.
With such a great start to his career and the obvious propensity of the Bullbars’ progeny to improve with age, his owners clearly thought Mongolian Lightning was a suitable type of horse to be a flag-bearer for them in China.
Given time to acclimatise to the new environment under the care of his trainer Rui Severino, Mongolian Lightning recently had his first race in the main sprint race at the 2017 Wuhan International Racing Festival. Starting from barrier 10, he beat all the best that China had to offer.
He has followed that up with success at victory last weekend in the ¥200,000 ($NZ45,000) Sprint Cup at Chengdu, again beating the best that China could offer.
The Chinese racing market is in its infancy but New Zealand Bloodstock (and their Australian counterparts) have recognised its growing importance. For a son of Bullbars to be one of its stars gives Highview a great deal of pride and excitement.
