It’s been 667 days coming, but Swan Hill trainer Nathan Hobson’s star sprinter Yulong Storm is back- and how.
His veteran seven-year-old gelding tore up the Ballarat track on Sunday, with local apprentice Shanae O’Meara in the saddle, to blitz the field in the $37,500 Hygain Winners Choice (1200m).
Today, the bargain basement horse – snapped up for $9500 at an Inglis Bloodstock online sale – is just a few dollars short of $250,000 in earnings and looks to be back in form after a drought which started on July 17 way back in 2021.
Hobson says Yulong Storm had most of last season off, foot problems restricting him to just three starts. And even now he is being nursed along with a training program tailored to his age and condition – and it is paying dividends.
The trainer says that during this prep, Yulong Storm has been showing he is getting back to his best, despite a bad draw sabotaging his first up run at Flemington in a tough BM80 in late March.
“But after a five-week break to deal with a little foot setback, Shanae rode him to third at Bendigo over 1000m on a soft 5 with the rail out to 8m,” Hobson says.
“Pretty much the way it was today, with the rail out 8m for the whole course and the track rated a soft 6, so I was pretty sure the writing was on the wall,” he says.
“After this win, I am looking at a return to Flemington for him next week, which will probably have to be a BM70 over 1100m as his rating will go up after this win.”
The horse’s seventh career win – and sixth for Hobson – has Hobson planning big, with a second Flemington start likely two weeks later and then back to his home track for the Swan Hill Cup carnival.
In Sunday’s race, Yulong Storm draw seven in a nine-horse field but O’Meara had him smartly out of the gate and quickly into a midfield position with some good cover.
Coming out of the last turn, O’Meara looked as though she was heading for the carpark, but once she straightened, Yulong Storm showed he still has that amazing turn of foot and he was flying when he hit the line.
“It’s funny, he has always had that look as though he would want 1400m, and certainly gave the impression he would be good at it, but he has never won that far out – I reckon 1100-1200 is his sweet spot and that’s what we will be targeting,” Hobson added.
“So long as he stays sound I think he still got a fair bit of racing in him, we’ll just manage him day by day and see how he goes.”
