I Am Invincible elevates to an elite global level
Another record-breaking yearling sales’ season has Australia’s most commercially successful stallion of the past decade sitting among some of the biggest names in global bloodstock.
No Australian stallion has grossed more for his yearling progeny in a single season than I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) has in 2023.
The $62.09 million returned by I Am Invincible’s progeny is the headline figure out of an analysis of the stallion statistics of the 2023 Australasian yearling season to date.
Given those commercial returns, it is little wonder that Yarraman Park feel the confidence to raise his 2023 service fee to a career-high $302,500 (inc GST), the second–highest fee ever for an Australian stallion.
But it is not just Australian sales history that I Am Invincible is creating.
That $62.09 million – bearing in mind there are still a handful of sales remaining – is the highest amount by any global stallion in a year since Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) in 2014, when the Coolmore champion grossed the equivalent of AU$70.2 million (US$47.1 million). Storm Cat (Storm Bird), whose 2006 yearling season receipts amounted to AU$73.6 million (US$49.3 million), holds the annual record according to our research.
Leading sires by annual yearling gross
| Sire | Year | Gross sales |
| Storm Cat | 2006 | $73.6 million |
| Galileo | 2014 | $70.2 million |
| I Am Invincible | 2023 | $62.1 million |
| Into Mischief | 2022 | $60.2 million |
* converted into $AUD
The stellar 2023 yearling crop yield has seen I Am Invincible surpass the legendary Redoute’s Choice’s (Danehill) Australian high-water mark set in 2007, when he grossed a career-high $58.98 million. That season prompted Arrowfield Stud to raise Redoute’s Choice’s fee to $330,000 (inc GST), the highest-ever advertised price for an Australian stallion.
It is worth noting that the Australian bloodstock market is much more focused on yearling sales than elsewhere in the world, which gives our stallions every chance to feature on such rankings.
Japan tends to split its commercial returns across foal and yearling sales, while the United States has a more robust two-year-old market to complement a strong yearling environment. Europe’s best stallions, meanwhile, don’t tend to have the same volume of yearlings through the ring as many of their best-bred stock are retained.
Nevertheless, that Australia could host a stallion of such historically high commercial returns as I Am Invincible is a tribute to the current health of the bloodstock market.
The average price of the 91 I Am Invincible yearlings sold in 2023 is a career-high $682,307, a 259 per cent return on the base fee of $190,000 (ex GST) he stood for during that 2020 yearling season. It has been a fitting reward for those who kept the faith during a period blighted by Covid uncertainty.
His great rival Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) also enjoyed an excellent season, with total receipts of $39.21 million, only slightly shy of his career highs, which sit in the $41 million range, and with his second highest average of any season, $522,733. Given Covid saw his service fee drop to $150,000 (ex-GST) that year, breeders were well rewarded with an average 248 per cent increase.
Written Tycoon (Iglesia), now at Yulong, also spent that 2020 season at Arrowfield and he is the third highest grossing stallion in Australasian yearling sales in 2023 on $34.59 million. His average of $303,392 is a 345 per cent increase on the $70,000 he stood for in his one season in the Hunter Valley.
Widden’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor) is unique among Australia’s current leading commercial stallions, as he shuttles to the Northern Hemisphere, giving him a chance to bank receipts on either side of the equator. His commercial and racetrack success in both hemispheres saw his yearlings net a total of $51.18 million in 2022, second only to I Am Invincible in terms of Aussie stallions.
This year’s sales in Australia and New Zealand have not quite hit the record highs of last year, but Zoustar’s 74 progeny have still grossed $32.13 million. With fewer yearlings through the ring so far in 2023, the average price of a Zoustar has hit a new annual high of $434,206. That’s a 314 per cent increase on his 2020 service fee of $110,000 (ex GST).
Rounding out the top five in terms of gross sales is Newgate’s recently pensioned Deep Field (Northern Meteor), whose 85 yearlings this year sold for a combined $19,618,962. He is another sire whose yearling average ($239,255) is at a career-high, netting a return of 380 per cent on his $50,000 service fee.
Leading Australasian stallions by gross yearling sales – 2023
| Sire | Gross | Average |
| I Am Invincible | $62,090,000 | $682,308 |
| Snitzel | $39,205,000 | $522,733 |
| Written Tycoon | $34,586,779 | $303,392 |
| Zoustar | $32,131,248 | $434,206 |
| Deep Field | $19,618,962 | $239,255 |
| Capitalist | $18,437,454 | $182,549 |
| So You Think | $18,097,157 | $196,708 |
| Dundeel | $14,723,418 | $163,594 |
| Exceed and Excel | $14,463,486 | $466,564 |
| The Autumn Sun | $13,934,624 | $248,832 |
Switching focus to those stallions which offered the best return on service fees when compared to average yearling prices and it would surprise very few that Newgate’s Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) tops the list.
He stood at $20,000 (excluding GST) in his fourth season at stud and a combination of his extraordinary success and limited fertility has seen his progeny become extremely hot property. Extreme Choice’s 25 yearlings sold from that crop have averaged $412,544 to date in 2023. That represents an average return on investment of 1963 per cent!
When dealing with low–fertility stallions, it is a bit of a different equation and Extreme Choice served 105 mares that year for 41 foals. But the reward for those who did get their mares in foal was massive.
Second on the ROI list is Western Australia-based first-season sire Long Leaf (Fastnet Rock). Regally bred – his dam is a half-sister to three Group 1 winners – the multiple stakes winner is already returning the faith that Rangeview Stud showed in him. He stood for $5000 (ex-GST) in 2020 and his first crop of yearlings have averaged an impressive $71,028. That is a 1321 per cent return on average.
Rich Hill’s Proisir (Choisir) has had a breakout season on the track with a succession of elite winners and buyers responded with demand for his yearling crop. They averaged NZ$118,271, a 1214 per cent premium on his 2020 service fee of NZ$9000.
It’s a similar story for Little Avondale Stud’s Per Incanto (Street Cry), who continues to chart an upward path, both in the sales ring and on the racetrack. His Australasian progeny averaged NZ$192,013 in 2023, a 1180 per cent premium on his then service fee of NZ$15,000.
I’m All The Talk (Stratum), who sadly died at Darling View in January 2022, is another WA-based stallion to feature prominently. He served that 2020 season at $6,000, having been champion first-season and second-season sire in WA in his previous stint at the former Mungrup Stud. The demand for his penultimate crop saw a 2023 yearling sales average of $74,912. That represents a 970 per cent increase on service fee.
Just outside the top five on the ROI list is Royal Meeting (Invincible Spirit), whose inaugural 2020 Australian crop was conceived through Aquis’ short-lived Victorian venture, at a service fee of $7000. Now based at Leneva Park, Royal Meeting had a 2023 average yearling price of $68,645, up 880 per cent on that low fee base.
Then follows a horse that also features elsewhere in today’s ANZ Bloodstock News, Starspangledbanner (Choisir), who returns to Coolmore Australia this spring. He stood at Rosemont Stud in Victoria in 2020 at a pre GST fee of $18,000, and this year his yearlings have averaged $157,889, a 777 per cent increase.
The above list only features stallions whose progeny grossed more than $1 million in 2023, and only considers public auction sales in Australia and New Zealand. Stallion fees when compared to yearling results have been calculated ex-GST to standardise between jurisdictions.
Top five Australasian stallions by return on service fee – 2023
| Sire | Average | 2020 Service Fee (ex-GST) | Percentage increase |
| Extreme Choice | $412,544 | $20,000 | 1963% |
| Long Leaf | $71,028 | $5,000 | 1321% |
| Proisir | NZ$118,271 | NZ$9,000 | 1214% |
| Per Incanto | NZ$192,013 | NZ$15,000 | 1180% |
| I’m All the Talk | $74,912 | $7,000 | 970% |