I Am Invincible fillies sought after as Mills overcomes shakes to buy $1.95 million collector’s item
Inglis Easter sale comes to a close as 22 yearlings make seven figures at Riverside
The final select yearling sale of the season, the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, has rounded out a remarkable surge in demand for bloodstock from buyers in 2021 with the highest-priced filly ever sold by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) changed hands for $1.95 million on a record-breaking second day at Riverside Stables in Sydney.
There were 11 million-dollar lots sold on day one and another 11 reached the seven-figure mark yesterday, with the 22 lots comprising 15 colts and seven fillies, and helped Inglis better the record gross figure on a single day of trade at a sale in the southern hemisphere, which it set on Tuesday.
The leading single buyer was Tony Fung who bought eight yearlings for $7.02 million, but the spread of buyers was stark, with Hawkes Racing (eight lots for $5.4 million) and Tom Magnier (five for $5.1 million) spending big, while Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds took home 11 yearlings, the most of any individual entity, for $3.31 million.
The aggregate of $132,160,000 was up eight per cent on the 2019 auction, $65.07 million of sales occurring in the second session, while the average of $371,236 climbed four per cent when comparing the same two sales. The median held at $260,000, again underlining the trend of buyers being prepared to pay more for the horses in the top half of the market.
Arguably, it is Inglis’ best Easter sale since 2008 when Bob Ingham, Sheikh Mohammed, Nathan Tinkler and Shadwell’s Angus Gold spent $50 million between them in a colossal spend which preceded the looming global financial crisis.
“We wanted to try and put together what was fair and effectively a lucrative market for vendors and buyers to operate in and it’s hard to escape the conclusion at the end of the sale that that has happened. It feels very healthy,” Inglis general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing Sebastian Hutch said.
“Demand for stock at stages through the past two days has been effectively insatiable, I think it’s a reason for a lot of vendors to leave here very happy indeed.
“Buyers seem delighted. The variety of buyers involved is very positive. It’s one of the major positives of the sale. It’s hard not to be anything other than delighted.”
At the four Australian select yearling sales held this year – the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, Inglis’ Classic, Premier and Easter sales – more than $461 million has been spent. This compares to just over $395 million spent at the same sales in 2019.
Mills makes move for $1.95 million ‘collector’s item’
The highest-priced yearling sold on day two of the Easter sale, a filly who is from “one of the best families in the stud book” and a half-sister to a string of valuable stakes-performed horses, was bought by Melbourne-based agent Sheamus Mills.
A Snitzel colt and a son of Exceed And Excel made $2.5 and $2.1 million respectively on day one.
Day two’s top lot, the Coolmore-consigned Lot 340 I Am Invincible filly, is the eighth foal out of Hips Don’t Lie (Stravinsky), a winner of three stakes races at two, and the fourth yearling out of the mare to make seven figures. She was bought by Colm Santry Bloodstock at the 2009 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale for $770,000.
Since then, she has gone on to produce stakes winners Ennis Hill (Fastnet Rock) and Lake Geneva (Fastnet Rock), the stakes-placed Memphis Rock (Fastnet Rock) and this season’s Inglis Nursery- (RL, 1000m) winning colt Acrobat (Fastnet Rock), a one-time favourite for the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) prior to injury which curtailed his autumn preparation.
Mills bought the filly for the Heath Newton and Anthony Roberts who, along with the Melbourne-based agent, race this season’s Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr-trained Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Odeum (Written Tycoon). The pair will also train this filly.
“I am shaking like a leaf, to be honest, but we really, really wanted her,” Mills said in the aftermath of the enthralling bidding duel.
“I didn’t think I’d have to pay that for her, but I did think she was the best horse here with the best pedigree. She’s a ten or 15-year keep and, as I said, I didn’t think I’d have to pay that for her, but whoever was under bidder wouldn’t drop off.”
Golden Slipper-winning trainers Michael and Richard Freedman were the under bidders and it wouldn’t have taken much more for Mills to relent.
“I think it is the best family in the stud book and I think many people would still rate Acrobat as the best two-year-old we saw,” said Mills, who also went to $1.5 million for a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) filly now named Queen Of The Green at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale for the same connections.
“Obviously, we are hoping he will get back to the races and, family wise, it’s as deep as it gets. She’s by the best stallion here who gets unbelievable fillies and, as I say, she’s a long-term prospect.
“You have to put some value on these things because they can breed for you. She’s not going to end up as a gelding. When we are selling foals two, three, four and five out of her, hopefully the dollars will make some sense.”
An emotional James Bester, who bred the filly with his wife Bridget, said: “Oh wow, I’ve cried for losing horses before but never for selling one for $2 million ($1.95 million).
“Honestly, I mean … I bought her mother for $200,000 in New Zealand in the sale ring (as a yearling) and she’s just been an absolute gold mine and an absolutely wonderful broodmare.”
Bester, understandably, was glowing in his appraisal of the star filly, labelling her “the best yearling filly that I have seen in ten years”.
I Am Invincible was the leading sire by aggregate, with 41 yearlings changing hands for a total of $25.235 million at an average of $615,488. He also had eight million dollar lots sell over the two days, five of them fillies.
“We got two of them (I Am Invincible fillies) for the same ownership up at the Gold Coast. I didn’t have to pay that sort of money ($1.95 million), but the market has reacted to (their success),” Mills said.
“Perhaps early in the season they were selling at good value and it certainly looks like it now. He seems to be the stallion of the sale and on my shortlist of what ended up to be about 14 fillies, I think there were about six I Am Invincibles on it.”
I Am Invincible colts also come to the fore
Coolmore’s Tom Magnier also demonstrated his belief in I Am Invincible’s colts, going to $1.4 million for a son of the stallion early in the second session, the third male by the sire to reach the seven-figure mark at this year’s Easter sale.
“We saw this horse at Kia Ora and he was an out-and-outer from the start,” Magnier said.
“Obviously, I Am invincible doesn’t need any introduction, with what he is doing at the moment.
“We have had Home Affairs, and we have got a couple other horses we bought last year with Chris that have shown a lot of promise. It gives you the confidence to come back and buy them.”
Chris Waller, who trains this season’s Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) winner Home Affairs for the Coolmore syndicate, will also take charge of the well-bred colt.
Trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, assisted by Kestrel Thoroughbreds’ Bruce Slade, were under bidders.
The third foal out of dual Group 1-winning mare Cosmic Endeavour (Northern Meteor), who was consigned by Kia Ora Stud as Lot 253, he is a half-brother to the Sydney-winning filly L’Cosmo (Lonhro) who is now in training with David Vandyke in Queensland.
“It was a brilliant result. He was just a super colt. He’s behaved so well all week and he’s gone down really well. He’s got a huge pedigree,” Kia Ora’s Shane Wright said.
“The mare, herself, was outstanding, and we actually sold him on behalf of a client, Don and Judy Kelly. They raced the mare themselves and it’s a great result for them going forward.
He goes to the very best home in Coolmore.
“They pick out the very best that there is. We really believed he was up there, so best of luck to them going forward.”
Kia Ora averaged $586,364 after selling 11 yearlings at Easter for $6.45 million.
Magnier lauded the health of the Australian racing industry and maintained it was one of the reasons Coolmore had been so active in the market.
“There’s young people, not only at the sales, but at the races. It’s a sport that is just on the rise. For people anywhere to get involved with the sport and take a share in a horse, you have got a high chance of getting a return,” he said.
“It’s a better investment than a lot of things. It’s a great credit to Inglis and everybody, that after the difficult times we have gone through, the industry is just going from strength to strength.
“The vendors have had the horses looking great here all week. At Coolmore, we have sold some lovely horses as well, and we’ve been really well supported, hopefully, this colt now, we will have a bit of luck.”
Coolmore, Waterhouse and Bott team up for ‘early running’ Written Tycoon colt
After going head-to-head on the $1.4 million I Am Invincible colt earlier in the day, Magnier, James Bester, Waterhouse, Bott and Slade instead teamed up for another seven-figure colt from Kia Ora Stud, with the partnership purchasing a son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) for $1.1 million.
“We were bidding away at $700,000 and all of a sudden it was at a million before we could even look around,” Bester said of the frenetic bidding which saw the price jump dramatically in seconds.
“There looked like there were two serious players at the finish and he is a horse we have bought in combination with Gai and Adrian.
“He was their pick as an early maturing two-year-old Golden Slipper type. He was ours, too.”
The colt, catalogued as Lot 283, is the sixth living foal out of US Grade 2 winner Dream Play (Hennessy), making him a half-brother to Group 2 winner and Tasmanian-based stallion Zululand (Fastnet Rock) and the stakes-placed two-year-old Chicago Bull (Exceed And Excel).
“I have a particular affinity with this horse because I bought the mother in America for Ananda Krishnan and Kia Ora and then I bought a horse in the pedigree called Chicago Bull,” Bester said.
“Coolmore bought Zululand for $1.5 million, the first foal, so it is a family I know well. It is a family that produces two-year-olds and Gai knows how to train them, so we’re delighted to get him.
“Written Tycoon has jumped out of the ground as a sire in the past 12 months and his son Capitalist is following in his footsteps as the hottest young first season sire, so that gives us a lot of confidence when we’re buying potential stallions at this stage.
“All he has to do is the job and he’ll be a stallion at stud. He is a very good looking animal and a very mature animal and fast looking.”
Waterhouse and Bott train Saturday’s Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) runner Yaletown (Vancouver), last week’s Tulloch Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) winner, for Coolmore.
Mulcaster grabs Crabtree’s Catchy filly for Hermitage
At the 2016 Easter sale, Victorian breeder Robert Crabtree bought a Fastnet Rock (Danehill) filly for $220,000 and less than 12 months later she would go on to win the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Her name was Catchy and yesterday her first foal, a daughter of I Am Invincible, made $1.2 million after being selected by trainer Chris Waller’s agent Guy Mulcaster for Hong Kong owner Hermitage.
“It’s terrific when it works. It’s been a long time and a great journey with her. She’s a wonderful filly and I thought she was just magnificent – she looked like a colt,” Crabtree said.
“Of course there is (a temptation to keep her), but you have to pay the bills. Once you present a horse you have to have the integrity to sell it and that’s what we’ve done.”
Offered by Bhima Thoroughbreds for Crabtree’s Dorrington Farm as Lot 242, the second horse through the ring on day two, she is a granddaughter of Group 2 winner Cats Whisker (Fusaichi Pegasus).
The brother to Catchy was sold by Coolmore as the next horse through the ring, with Victoria-based Lotte Bloodstock going to $200,000 for the Coolmore-offered colt.
The daughter of Catchy was the second million dollar I Am Invincible filly Mulcaster bought for Hermitage, after going to $1.25 million on day one for a daughter of Vezalay (Shamardal) from the Widden Stud draft. The day one filly was bought in partnership with Coolmore.
“Catchy was such a great race mare and this filly is such an athlete, so it’s great to have the support to be able to buy a couple of beautiful fillies like them,” Mulcaster said.
“We liked the way (the Catchy filly) took the preparation. We saw her up at Bhima about a month ago and they come here and take it all in their stride, that’s what you want, because the pressure goes on now; getting broken in and becoming racehorses.”
Crabtree attempted to buy back into the filly, but Hermitage has taken 100 per cent ownership and he will have to rely on Catchy’s offspring in order to maintain his association with her progeny.
He is yet to decide on who Catchy will be covered by this year.
“She has got a Zoustar filly at home who is beautiful and she’s in foal to Too Darn Hot,” he said.
“You’re mating them as you go, but you do change and once all the fees are published, you look for value and appropriateness in matings.”
Reflecting on what has occurred at the Australian yearling sales this year, starting with Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, Crabtree said: “I think if you are in the top half of the sale anywhere, you’d be doing OK. Perth was OK, Melbourne Premier was terrific, the Classic sale was great and this is just incredible.”
Rising sire Zoustar up in Easter lights
Yesterday’s session was also a breakout day for Widden Stud’s champion first season sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor) who had two colts burst the million-dollar barrier and set a new benchmark for the sire.
First it was Peter Moody, who went to $1.15 million for the second foal out of Group 3-winning mare Fireworks (Snitzel), handing the colt the honour of being Zoustar’s most expensive yearling ever sold, before the figure was bettered later in the day at $1.25 million.
The $1.25 million colt, the first foal of Listed-winning juvenile Lady Jivago (Beneteau), was purchased by Victorian-based trainer Matt Laurie.
The achievement coincides with Capitalist (Written Tycoon) having his first million-dollar lot and a colt by Exceed And Excel (Danehill) also setting a new benchmark for the champion Darley sire at $2.1 million on day one.
Widden Stud principal Antony Thompson, who sold the Lot 377-catalogued $1.25 million colt, was elated and later brought to tears when coming to terms with the farm’s achievements and that of his banner stallion.
“There were a lovely lot of Zoustars here at the sale, Obviously, these are the Zoustars bred off the back of him being champion first season sire and they have sold so well,” Thompson said.
“This horse, in my mind, was such a stunning horse. We’ve had 20 x-ray hits, he kept coming out 40 and 50 times every day and never turned a hair.”
Agent Guy Mulcaster and Chris Waller were the under bidders.
Thompson said: “It’s great that a young trainer that is doing so well, like Matt Laurie, could drum up the support to buy a horse like this. Obviously it’s a step up to the crease for Matt, but he’s shown he can do it with a Group 1 winner, Portland Sky.”
Widden Stud sold 22 yearlings, two of which topped the million-dollar mark, for $7.72 million at an average of 350,909.
“We came here and we had a stunning (I Am Invincible) filly in the Vezalay filly and a really standout colt, in this colt, that both made $1.25 million,” he said.
“I thought at the start of the week that they were both possibly million-dollar horses, but to see them both make that price is just a great result.
“It’s all down to the team, the work of those guys and the way the horses look. To finish off the week like that is so emotional.”
Meanwhile, Moody’s Zoustar acquisition, by the same sire as his Inglis Sires’ (Gr 1, 1400m) contender Lightsaber, was offered by Segenhoe Stud on behalf of Fairway Thoroughbreds and catalogued as Lot 306.
“He is a cracking colt. He had a great head and shoulder on him, a deep girth, everything you want to see in a horse,” Moody said.
“He had plenty of strength behind the saddle and we’ve been having a little bit of luck with Zoustar lately. He is a hell of a stallion and he looks like a nice running colt.
“Did I want to pay that much for him? No, but he is a bloody nice horse and we had to meet the market and I am very pleased to take him home.”
Moody did not have to wait long to sell down a percentage of the colt, with the Rosemont Stud-led Victorian Alliance partnership extending its budget to take a share in the yearling.
It brings the syndicate’s reach to 12 colts since making its first buy at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January.
Rosemont Stud later went to $1.2 million for an I Am Invincible filly out of Heart Of Thrills (Show A Heart) (Lot 333) from the Glenlogan Park draft, making her a half-sister to stakes winner Thrillster (Starspangledbanner), who is in foal to I Am Invincible, and the stakes-placed Free Thrills (Unencumbered) as well as this season’s stakes-placed two-year-old colt Extreme Warrior (Extreme Choice).
“We thought she was the filly of the sale. I don’t rate myself as any key judge, there were some very smart buyers who had her highly rated,” Rosemont Stud’s Anthony Mithen said.
“I thought she’d make $1.5 and perhaps close to the $2 million and we wouldn’t own her. We were tapped out, that was our maximum, but it was nice to secure her.
“It is Easter and all the good judges are here and there are a lot of nice horses to choose from. I’m delighted to buy her,”
Last Redoute’s Choice yearling makes $760,000
Later, Moody and long-time clients Ron and Judy Wanless, bought the last yearling to go through an Inglis Easter sale by the late champion Arrowfield Stud stallion Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) for $760,000.
“We didn’t buy her for that reason, obviously, but she was a bloody nice filly and Mrs Wanless was very keen to buy a filly at the sales,” Moody said.
“I trained the granddam, Sayahailmary, and Redoute’s has been a hell of a stallion. She actually looks a bit more precocious than your typical Redoute’s, she might go a bit earlier, not that the owners promote the running of their two-year-old unless they are ready to do it.”
The Wanlesses have raced horses with Queenslander Moody since the late 1990s, including the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Amalfi (Carnegie), the trainer’s first at the highest level, while they also support Brisbane’s Kelly Schweida and Newcastle-based Kris Lees.
“Mrs Wanless likes to breed as well as race, at the end of their racing career, and a filly by Redoute’s out of a stakes-performed family, hopefully, I can get it right on the training side of things, and she can go on be a broodmare and years to come,” he said.
The filly (Lot 418), the second foal of South African Grade 2-winning mare Mella Maria (Star Witness), was sold by Fernrigg Farm’s Rae-Louise Kelly and her husband Padraig. The couple bought the mare in foal to Redoute’s Choice for $340,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions National Sale from Mill Park Stud.
Fernrigg Farm’s Rae-Louise Kelly, whose Denman operation has enjoyed success in the sales ring and on the racetrack, having sold Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) and Pago Pago Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Shaquero (Shalaa) as a yearling, was over the moon with the result.
“This was way over the reserve. We own the mare and I am freaking out now. It’s a personal best for us and to own her ourselves is quite something,” Kelly said.
“We knew Peter liked her and we were praying she’d end up in the right stable and we obviously own the mare and she has a Fastnet Rock to sell next year and she’s a running type of filly. I know Peter’s going to give her every chance.
“After the results on the racetrack and to finish the year at Easter, I don’t know whether it gets any better.”
Sale results – overall
2021 (2019)
Catalogued: 466 (450)
Offered: 406 (407)
Sold: 356 (88%) (343 (84%))
Aggregate: $132,160,000 (+8%) ($122,235,500)
Average: $371,236 (+4%) ($356,372)
Median: $260,000 ($260,000)
Top Lot: $2.5 million ($2.8 million)
*2019 figures used as a comparison owing to the virtual Easter auction held in 2020.