Cythera (AUS)
Cythera (AUS)
2 f I Am Invincible – Helena’s Secret by Five Star Day
O: IRON (Mgr: D P Boehm)
T: Peter and Paul Snowden
S: 2021 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale V: Highgrove Stud P: IRON / George Moore Bloodstock, $420,000
W: Lonhro Plate (Listed, 1000m), February 5, Randwick
Cythera (I Am Invincible) made a big impression when taking out the Lonhro Plate (Listed, 1000m) on debut at Randwick last Saturday, ensuring her game-changing ownership syndicate was rewarded with a winner from its very first runner.
IRON, or International Racehorse Owners Network, is headed by Muskoka Farm principal David Boehm and features a world-first blockchain method of racehorse ownership.
The burgeoning venture invested heavily at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, taking home seven youngsters for a combined $2.785 million, with $420,000 purchase Cythera the first to hit the track.
Trained by Peter and Paul Snowden, the two-year-old went a long way to justifying her purchase price, bursting clear under Tommy Berry to defeat race-favourite Lady Laguna (Overshare), unbeaten in two previous starts, by a long-head.
“She is a lovely filly,” the winning jockey said post-race. “I really liked her off her trial and it was a very good effort for her to come here off just one trial, usually Peter gives them a couple.
“She’s been immature the whole way through. She hasn’t been the one from day dot that jumped out of the ground and said this is going to be the best two-year-old, but she has been the horse that has kept improving and there is a lot of substance about her. She’s a lovely type, a nice size.”
Cythera was introduced as a $26 chance for next month’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) but connections have yet to commit her on a path to the juvenile feature.
A September-born bay filly, Cythera is the seventh and final foal out of late American mare Helena’s Secret (Five Star Day), who herself is out of a half-sister to Street Cry (Machiavellian) and Helsinki (Machiavellian), the dam of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway).
All six of Cythera’s siblings have also won, while her debut success means she joins Australia Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) victor and Widden Stud stallion Thronum (Snitzel) as stakes winners for the dam, who died in 2020. Meanwhile, her promising half-brother, Verne (Snitzel), has not been seen in public since downing subsequent Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) winner In The Congo (Snitzel) at Randwick last June.
Cythera became the 75th individual stakes winners for Yarraman Park’s flagbearer I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), who sits second on the general sires table – $300,000 adrift of Nicconi (Bianconi) – as he seeks to be crowned champion sire for the first time.