Invader Adds To The Snitzel Saga In The Inglis Sires’
Invader finished strongly to defeat New Zealand raider Summer Passage (Snitzel) by three quarters of a length with Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) another three quarters of a length back in third place. Time on the heavy 8-rated track was 1:26.15 with the final 600 metres covered in 38.49.
Part of a growing partnership forged between Newgate Farm and associates and the China Horse Club, Invader had missed a start in the rich Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on 18 March due to a stone bruise so the Inglis Sires’ win was a pleasing consolation for connections and one which has set him up for a future stud career.
Racing in the growingly familiar colours of the China Horse Club, Invader is a smallish but powerful type who cost $475,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale where he was consigned by Arrowfield Stud for his breeder Michael Pitt.
Invader’s sire Snitzal is enjoying a truly sensational season, leading all the sires’ lists and is likely to win his first Australian general sires’ title when the season ends on 31 July.
Snitzel’s two-year-olds in particular have had a banner season and provided many of his 22 individual stakes winners in Australia over the past nine months. Last Saturday at Randwick, in addition to Invader, Snitzel’s three-year-old daughter Diddums captured the P J Bell Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) to record her first stakes success and later that night in South Africa Snitzel had his tenth Group One winner and 59th stakes winner when three-year-old colt Heavenly Blue (ex Simply Carina by El Prado) won the SA Classic (Gr 1, 1800m) at Turffontein.
Flame Of Sydney (Encosta De Lago), the dam of Invader, won three races as a two-year-old in Melbourne and another at three years over 1400 metres, winning the Desirable Handicap (Listed, 1000m). She showed longer distances were not beyond her scope by finishing second in the 2006 Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) and third in the Kewney Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m).
Invader is Flame Of Sydney’s sixth foal with her second, Not Listenin’tome (Dylan Thomas), a Group winner in both Australia and Hong Kong, way the best of the mare’s earlier produce.
Flame Of Atlanta (Clay Hero), the second dam of Invader, was a sprint winner in Melbourne and a stakes placegetter in New Zealand. She is a sister to brilliant speedster Wry Hero (Clay Hero), a multiple Listed winner, and a half-sister to high class, multiple stakes winner Who Can I Say (Khozaam), dam of stakes winners Only Words (End Sweep) and Gibraltar Campion (Rock Of Gibraltar).
The wisdom of importing well bred mares from the United States and Europe to breed in Australia and New Zealand is well illustrated by the stud achievements of Invader’s third dam Plans Awry (Topsider).
Winner of a Listed race and six other races in the United States, Plans Awry has made a significant contribution to breeding in Australasia, producing no fewer than 13 named foals of which 11 raced and ten became winners in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Three of Plans Awry’s daughters have bred stakes winners so the family is breeding on as you might expect when you find that Plans Awry traces back to the highly influential mare Lady Be Good (Better Self).
This is a black type family par excellence and includes such outstanding American performers as Mining (Mr Prospector), Disciplinarian (Bold Ruler), Squander (Buckpasser), Goodbye Halo (Halo), Duty Dance (Nijinsky), Awe Inspiring (Slew O’ Gold) and Wavering Monarch (Majestic Light) not to mention European stars Zilzal (Nureyev), Culture Vulture (Timeless Moment), Polish Precedent (Danzig), Posse (Forli) and Motivator (Montjeu).
Invader’s maternal grandsire Encosta De Lago (Fairy King) was Australia’s champion broodmare sire last season and looks set to repeat in 2016/17. His daughters have nicked outstandingly well with Danehill-line sires as Invader is the sixth Group One winner bred on this cross after Musir (Redoute’s Choice), Peeping (Redoute’s Choice), Japonisme (Choisir), Divine Prophet (Choisir) and Summer Passage (Snitzel).
Snitzel carries four crosses of Northern Dancer (Nearctic) while Flame Of Sydney adds another two strains of the breed shaping sire to Invader’s background and he also has in his pedigree a 5m x 5f double of Bletchingly (Biscay).