Imperatriz continues her march to greatness with Champions Sprint triumph
Mares dominate on the final day of the Cup carnival as Pride Of Jenni and Atishu also snare Group 1s
Opie Bosson said he’d “love to” take on the world’s best sprinters at Royal Ascot with Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) after the mighty mare entered the history books by completing Melbourne’s spring Group 1 sprint treble yesterday.
Ta Akau Racing’s awesome five-year-old took her earnings past $5.3 million, made it 17 wins from 23 starts, 13 from her past 16, and followed her effortless wins in the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) with a third straight top-tier success in yesterday’s Champions Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington.
It was a day dominated by the mares, with the other two Group 1s on the Flemington card, the Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) and Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), going the way of Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) and Atishu (Savabeel) respectively.
Bred by the New South Wales wing of New Zealand entity Raffles Dancers and bought by Te Akau from Bhima Thoroughbreds’ draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $360,000, Imperatriz is the most prolific top-level winner on the planet in 2023, with six wins at the highest level to her name
And with yesterday’s win, her eighth career Group 1 triumph, she became the first horse to win Melbourne’s trio of major sprints in one spring, putting her name above some stars who came up short even before all three had top level status.
In 1982, Manikato (Manihi) himself won the then-Group 2 Moir and the Manikato [then known as the Group 2 Freeway Stakes and run in August], before running third in Melbourne Cup week’s Group 1 sprint (then the Pure Pak Stakes).
Buffering (Mossman) has come closest in the modern era, running second in the first Moir held as a Group 1, in 2013, before winning the second two legs. The unbeaten Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) went back-to-back in the first and third legs in 2010 and 2011, but never contested a Manikato.
Having bypassed The Everest (1200m) as the Te Akau team of David Ellis, Karyn Fenton-Ellis and trainer Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson opted to concentrate on Melbourne, Imperatriz, though easing slightly from odds-on on Friday to start $2.15, cooly coped with her first taste of straight racing to win the $3 million race by half a length.
Matthew Smith’s brave Buenos Noches (Supido, $14) took second on her inside, with Godolphin mare In Secret (I Am Invincible, $3.50) three-quarters of a length further back in third, while Espiona (Extreme Choice, $26) nosed Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai, $12) out of fourth.
And while Walker kept a lid on talk of Imperatriz taking on the world next year, Bosson – who’s ridden her in 11 of her past 13 starts for nine wins – showed little doubt the mare would be suited by a race such as the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) up the straight on the final day of the Royal Ascot meeting.
“It’d be nice to get to Ascot and show them how good she is,” Bosson told Racing.com after chalking up his 94th Group 1 win.
“We always knew she was really, really talented and she’s just getting better and better with age. She is the real deal and she’s proven that now. Hopefully there’s more to come for both of us.”
Jumping from gate eight in an 11-horse field that went down the grandstand side, Bosson found an easy trail behind Front Page (Magnus), who led while another potential front-runner, the disappointing Asfoora (Flying Artie), took a sit.
Bosson hooked to the outside to ease to the lead through hands-and-heels riding at the 350 metres, then punched the mare out with the whip inside the last 150 metres to shore up the win.
“I used Front Page as my bunny. I probably got [to the front] a little bit soon,” Bosson said. “Geez, it’s a long way up that straight once you’re sitting there, but to her credit she knuckled down, put her ears back and had a decent crack.”
Imperatriz is the second named foal of Berimbau (Shamardal), a winner at 1200 metres, who was Group 2 placed. She was bought for $1.8 million at this year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale by Yulong Stud, carrying Imperatriz’s full sibling, who’s now a two-month-old colt. Berimbau was the top-priced mare in-foal at the sale, and the fourth-highest overall.
Cabaca, Imperatriz’s three-time winning half-sister, was purchased by Bruce Perry Bloodstock for $460,000 at last year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
Berimbau’s yearling colt by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) will reportedly go through the ring on the Gold Coast in January.
Walker said yesterday’s win under great expectations brought “a little bit of relief more than anything”, and paid credit to Ben Gleeson and the rest of Te Akau’s Australian operation at their Cranbourne–base, which was established in the second half of this year.
“Ben and the team did a fantastic job,” Walker said. “Ben’s assembled a great set of people at Cranbourne. Days like this it make it all worthwhile, everyone’s hard graft.”
Walker was reserved on next year’s plans for Imperatriz and said her programme would be discussed after Te Akau’s next priority – the Karaka Ready To Run Sale next weekend.
“I’ll sit down in a couple of weeks once we get the Ready To Run sale out of the way with David and Karyn. We’ll sit down and talk about it then,” Walker said.
Imperatriz (5 m I Am Invincible – Berimbau by Shamardal) was bred under the umbrella of Raffles Farm, the New Zealand-based breeding concern of Malaysian businessman Dato Yap Kim San which also bred Group 1 winners Glint Of Hope (Deep Impact), More Than Sacred (More Than Ready) and First Seal (Fastnet Rock) before being sold off in 2022.
The mare is one of 14 top-level winners for Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), who has 100 individual stakes winners. Having secured his second Australian champion sires title last season, the stallion is standing for a career high fee of $302,500 (inc GST).
Meanwhile, rider Blake Shinn was full of praise for Buenos Noches, after he’d taken a possibly tougher course up the inside of Imperatriz, whose time of 1:09.08 on a windy day at Flemington was almost two seconds outside Iglesia’s (Last Tycoon) long-standing record of 1:07.16.
“He ran really, really bravely, a great second,” Shinn said of Buenos Noches, the $40,000 Inglis Classic Highway purchase for Smith who’s now earned $1.91 million.
“The winner was too good on the day. He put his hand up and showed he is one of the better sprinters around.”
Jockey James McDonald said In Secret had “tried her heart out, she gave her all”.