Coolmore hoping lightning can strike twice with $950,000 I Am Invincible colt
Buyer demand continues with Inglis on track for record Melbourne Premier Sale
A $950,000 colt by top stallion I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) will join an enviable portfolio of young horses under the ownership of Coolmore Australia after principal Tom Magnier won an intense bidding duel late on the second day of the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
Global racing and breeding giant Coolmore’s push to find another Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), arguably the most valuable colt in training in Australia following his recent win in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), led them to zero in on the top-priced son of I Am Invincible, a transaction which was also important for historic Hunter Valley breeder Widden Stud in its expansion into Victoria.
The colt was the highlight of another strong session of the 2022 sale, in which $34.225 million changed hands yesterday, eclipsing the $33,382,500 that was traded during Sunday’s opening day.
Anticipation built throughout the day that the Widden Stud-cosigned I Am Invincible colt was likely to top the session and that was immediately evident when the opening bid was made at $500,000, leading to competition from multiple parties.
Tony Fung’s representative Sally Williams was the underbidder while the Rosemont Stud-led Victorian Alliance also made a strong play for the colt bred by Sun Stud, the former custodians of Widden’s Victoria property.
Just two yearlings have realised a higher price at the Premier sale, namely Octane (I Am Invincible), the half-brother to Sunday’s $675,000 Written Tycoon (Iglesia) colt, and last year’s sale-topping $1.1 million son of Written Tycoon.
“We’ve had a great run with Home Affairs, he is obviously red-hot right now having won the Lightning last week. We came here with the intention of buying the best colt we could find at the sale and, physically, he really stood out,” said Coolmore’s nominations and sales manager, Colm Santry.
“He was a great mover for an I Am Invincible colt. We really liked him. The pedigree was good. We didn’t think we had to go as far, but we did, and we are very glad we got him.”
Home Affairs’ trainer Chris Waller will take charge of the youngster.
“He was the standout colt and the colts syndicates had all done a lot of due diligence on this horse, so they do have that sort of firepower when they do team up on the star colts,” Widden principal Antony Thompson said.
“It was good to see him go to Coolmore, who seems to be really leading the charge in that department. Obviously this horse fits into a real sweet spot for them around Home Affairs, a horse they have got an enormous thrill out of buying for a similar number ($875,000) who went on to win their own race, the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
“It was one of Tom Magnier’s finest days to win with a colt like that and I guess they see the similarities here with the way he’s bred and the way he looks, so it’s no surprise to see them go again.”
Catalogued as Lot 522, the colt is the fifth foal out of Group 3 winner Fine Bubbles (Casino Prince), while he is also a brother to ATC Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) runner-up Covert Ops and the Melbourne juvenile winner Libiamo (Written Tycoon). The latter is in training with Will Clarken in Adelaide while the two-year-old out of Fine Bubbles, Talento (Fighting Sun), ran in the Kirkham Plate (1000m) at her only race start last October.
“His full relation was a small foal and was retained by the breeders and is in Singapore at the moment (Covert Ops),” Santry said.
“He was a very good horse early, ran second in the Breeders’ Plate, just beaten by Dubious, so the mare can throw a horse.”
Coolmore’s colts syndicate also paid $1.9 million for the sale-topping I Am Invincible colt at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January after purchasing five colts by the same stallion in 2021.
Silverdale Farm’s fillies find favour in the market
I Am Invincible also had the honour of siring the second top lot sold on day two, a $550,000 filly, after Legend Racing’s Bon Ho made his fourth purchase of the Premier sale late in the session.
After purchasing the Silverdale Farm-consigned filly, Ho immediately entrusted Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, themselves having bought day one’s top-priced yearling, the $675,000 colt out of Soorena (Encosta De Lago), with the training duties.
“I was very keen to buy this filly. She was the pick of the sale for me, she came strongly recommended to me by (Inglis’) Jonathan D’Arcy as well as a number of trainers and very good judges, so I really was very keen to get her,” Ho said from Hong Kong.
“She’s a lovely filly with a strong pedigree. I was able to view video footage of her on the Inglis website the past couple of weeks and I also loved the way she moved. I love I Am Invincible as a stallion, he’s one of my favourites, so I couldn’t be happier to buy this filly.
“She wasn’t cheap but I’m very pleased she’s mine now.’’
Catalogued as Lot 497, the filly is the second foal out of New Zealand Group 2-placed mare Endean Rose (Savabeel), who was sourced by New Zealand Bloodstock’s Mike Kneebone for breeders Steve Grant and Ken Lowe.
“She was a nice foal that just kept improving all the way along, right through the prep to pre-sale inspections on the farm,” Silverdale Farm manager Rob Petith said.
“We knew then that we thought she would be well received down here and she hasn’t spent much time in the box. A few years ago, I actually sold another Vinnie filly to Legend Racing in Madam Legend (a Group 3 winner when working at Canning Downs Stud), so we are thrilled to bits that she has gone to race in those wonderful silks.”
Endean Rose’s first foal, a filly by Russian Revolution (Snitzel), was bought at last year’s Premier sale by Michael and Richard Freedman for $55,000.
One lot earlier, Silverdale Farm sold the I Am Invincible half-sister to Soqrat (Epaulette), a three-time Grade 1 winner in South Africa under the Shadwell banner, for $350,000 to Singapore’s Aramco Racing and trainers Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr.
The seventh foal out of Elzeeza (Hussonet), she was bought at last year’s Shadwell dispersal at the Magic Millions National Sale for $160,000 by Silverdale Farm and agent Andrew Williams.
“She was a beautiful filly that we purchased through the Shadwell dispersal at the National sale,” Petith said.
“She was a filly that I loved when I saw her on the farm. She improved all the way through and we thought we had her right on the money.”
Silverdale Farm is on the cusp of another 100 per cent clearance, having sold three fillies in the space of ten lots late yesterday, with a daughter of So You Think (High Chaparral) making $180,000 to Mornington trainer John McArdle.
Silverdale Farm, which has a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) colt to sell today, has sold eight yearlings in Melbourne so far for a total of $1,960,000 at an average of $245,000.
Ho paid $550,000 for a Snitzel colt on day one and added a $240,000 son of Deep Field (Northern Meteor) and a $180,000 (High Chaparral) colt during yesterday’s trade.
McDonald takes a second bite of a Snitzel
Cranbourne trainer Clinton McDonald hopes he has unearthed another “Diamond” after going to $475,000 for a Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) filly on day two at Oaklands Junction.
The second highest-priced filly of the Premier sale so far, and the ninth most expensive yearling from the first two sessions, the daughter of Snitzel is the second foal out of the juvenile winner Amelia’s La Bout (Hinchinbrook), providing her with a two-by-three cross to Snippets’ Lass (Snippets).
“A gentleman from Perth called Peter Walsh bred this filly and I got some information that they thought that (the dam) was pretty good but she broke down at her second start,” McDonald said.
“She didn’t reach her full potential, obviously, and this filly looked like a real athlete and so we were very happy to purchase her.”
Catalogued as Lot 353, the youngster was consigned by Segenhoe Thoroughbreds on behalf of Walsh’s Amelia Park Racing and Breeding.
“She is just always cool. She never turned a hair in the back parade ring,” McDonald said.
“There were a couple of horses going off, but she just kept at her job, head down, bum up and kept moving.
“She has a great attitude, she has got a great physique and I thought she was a nice filly.”
McDonald bought the filly on behalf of long-time owner Domenic Romanelli, who also raced the Group 3-winning mare Diamond Effort (Mossman) with the trainer.
“We’ve had a lot of luck in buying these fillies. The last one we bought was Diamond Effort for $130,000 and sold her for $840,000, so we’ve been very fortunate. He’s a great supporter and I love having him in the stable,” McDonald said.
“Domenic and I also bought another Snitzel filly last year for $300,000 and this one is a bit similar, so on the back of that we were happy to buy another one.
“People are paying a lot for first–season sires where you can go and buy one by a proven stallion like Snitzel for $475,000, so we’re happy and let’s hope we’ve got it right.”
Happy Howley takes home So You Think filly
The half-sister to Cambridge Stud’s stakes-winning three-year-old Zouzarella (Zoustar), who ran in Saturday’s Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in Sydney, will be trained by Liam Howley after he purchased the daughter of So You Think for $320,000.
Howley, in conjunction with agent Andrew Williams, bought the Sullivan Bloodstock-consigned filly for an existing client.
“I thought, probably in terms of the market, she was one we had a little bit more for. I thought she would make around the $400,000 mark,” Howley said.
“I saw her a couple of weeks ago on the farm and I loved her. She’s got the right pedigree, which is very active and very commercial, and she wouldn’t have looked out of place at Easter. The client’s a commercial breeder, which is a good fit.”
The filly is the third foal out of Zazparella (Al Maher), a six-time-winning sister to the stakes-placed Almachino and a half-sister to the stakes-placed Lets Get Nauti Gal (Harbour Watch). She was catalogued as Lot 331.
“I’m hoping she’s a Classic-type filly. She looks like a real three-year-old in the making, but I think she is strong enough and forward enough and she has that So You Think shoulder that will hopefully see her as an autumn two-year-old,” Howley said.
“What I’m backing in is that we are after those commercial pages. You need to be thinking about how they go at two.”
Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are the leading buyers by numbers, adding 15 lots either outright or in partnership over the two days of Premier so far, while Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr took their tally to 12 yesterday.
“There’s a lot of good stallions here, a lot of nice colts and nice fillies, and you have to outbid a few fellow trainers to get the right horse,” Price said.
“Melbourne Premier is always a happy hunting ground for us and we better buy them now because Sydney Easter is going to be Sydney Easter.
“I am filling my shop up at Melbourne Premier and we’ll have plenty for people to buy shares in.”
The leading vendor by aggregate is Widden Stud after selling 19 yearlings for $4.45 million, while the leading vendor by average is Gilgai Farm, parting with five yearlings at $380,000 each.
“The draft of horses we’ve presented here, they’re proper main sale horses and we’re very serious in our commitment to the Victoria industry, as we are to the Widden and Hunter Valley, and I think this is a pretty good example in the draft of horses we’ve presented here,” Widden principal Thompson said.
“To be topping the sale at this stage really reinforces that.”
With the final Book 1 session of Melbourne sale to take place today, followed by the Premier Session, the aggregate was up 16 per cent year-on-year with 413 horses traded for a total of $67,607,500, while the average was up 14 per cent to $163,699. The median was up 32 per cent to $145,000 and the clearance rate was at 85 per cent.
Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch was once again pleased with the level of activity on day two.
“We were confident that after Sunday that the sale would find a better balance today and that’s how it played out,” Hutch said last night.
“The competition through the middle and upper parts of the market was really quite fantastic and I think it’s a real compliment to the sale.”
First–season sires Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) and North Pacific (Brazen Beau) were both sold as yearlings at the 2019 Premier sale, Group 3-winning colt Bruckner (Sntizel) was sold in Melbourne in 2020 and last year’s top-priced colt was bought by James Harron’s colts syndicate.
It is the graduate success in recent years which has helped attract major buyers, according to Hutch.
“There is a really strong group of people bidding on horses. I think it’s a compliment to the sale and the standing of the sale,” he said.
“I think people know they can come here and buy a top-class horse and it’s a suitable demonstration of the standing of the sale now that Widden, one of the most famous names in breeding, bring a yearling colt here on behalf of a client that tops a Premier sale and it’s bought by a Coolmore stallion syndicate, who outbid some of the biggest stallion investors in the country.”
Day three starts at 10am with lots 531-590 in the Premier Session, before the 202-lot Showcase Session begins.
Sale results – days one and two
2022 2021 Catalogued 530 530
Offered 485 464
Sold 413 (85%) 398 (86%)
Aggregate $67,607,500 (+19%) $56,991,500
Average $163,699 (+14%) $143,195
Median $145,000 (+32%) $110,000
Top Lot $950,000 $1.1 million