‘I’ve got a bit of an affinity for the right type of horse for the race’

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Kennewell hoping Invincible Woman can bring him more joy in Magic Millions Victorian 2YO Classic

Lloyd Kennewell is hoping history repeats itself when he sends highly rated filly Invincible Woman (I Am Invincible) to this weekend’s pipe-opener for Victorian youngsters targeted at next month’s rich Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) at the Gold Coast.

After two impressive jump-out wins, Invincible Woman will be among the favourites for Saturday’s Magic Millions Victorian 2YO Classic (1100m), the $250,000 showpiece event for the first Saturday meeting on the Caulfield Heath track.

And if she can succeed it will reprise Kennewell’s success in the race in 2017 with another daughter of Yarraman Park’s flagbearer I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) in La Pomme De Pin, who bolted home by 5.5 lengths when the race was held as the Magic Millions 2YO Clockwise Classic (1000m) at Ballarat.

A $250,000 Gold Coast purchase, Invincible Woman has caught the eye with her two hard-held Cranbourne jump–out wins, over 650 metres on November 18 and 800 metres on December 2.

“She’s been good. We’re very happy with her, and she looks a nice, progressive filly,” said Kennewell, who has trained in partnership with Lucy Yeomans since the start of last season.

“She’s been set for this race. There’s not a lot of two-year-old races in Victoria in December, so this looks a perfect option. She’s a Magic Millions filly, so it’s all worked out beautifully.

“We’ll find out under race conditions on Saturday what she’s about. It’s a totally different ballgame. But this is the last piece of the puzzle to see if she can do it. It’ll be a good challenge for her, but we’ve got Damian Lane in the saddle, who’s one of the best around.”

Kennewell bought Invincible Woman in January from Widden Stud’s draft in partnership with Group 1 Bloodstock and Lizzie Jelfs’ Race With Lizzie syndicate, after she’d initially been passed in. The filly was targeted for an all-women’s ownership group, to aim for Magic Millions’ lucrative bonuses for female-owned horses.

“We were looking into an all-girls horse,” Kennewell said. “It was going to be our first one since Lucy’s been on board, so we wanted to pay a bit more and make it a bit special. I’d done it in the last few years with a few cheaper versions, and they haven’t really worked.

“So I was pleased to get her, for less than I Am Invincible’s service fee, and she had a really good page.

“She was all framework at the time, but she’s really filled out nicely and has just kept going the right way.

“Her jump-outs have been very good, very straightforward. In her first one she did a good job and got the money. In her second one, we were keen to ride her in behind them to give her a look at running behind other horses, but she blew the lids, and landed straight outside the leader, then she picked it up in the last 100 metres and was very strong to the line.”

Invincible Woman is the third foal out of Showcase (Big Brown), a four-time winner who was twice Listed placed and is a half-sister to Disposition (Reset), who won five stakes races and was second in three Group 1s.

And while I Am Invincible isn’t quite dominating at present as he has in his past three Champion Sire seasons – he currently sits in an uncharacteristic sixth spot by earnings, although second by winners and equal third by stakes winners – Kennewell is confident his success with the super sire can continue.

The Cranbourne-based trainer got in nearly on the ground floor when the stallion was still vincible. His second-crop mare Viddora – bought by Kennewell for $40,000 at Adelaide’s Magic Millions sale – won him his two top tier trophies so far, in the 2017 Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Ascot, and the following year’s Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) at The Valley.

“Vinnie’s been very good to me over the years. I’ve loved the breed, I’ve been there from the start, and he seems to get a good horse every year. You’ve got to stick to what works,” said Kennewell, whose stable has been firing with five winners from its past 19 starters.

“Plus his daughter La Pomme De Pin won this Victorian Magic Millions race for me a few years ago, so hopefully I’ve got a bit of an affinity for the right type of horse for the race.”

Another jump-out star set to debut in the Victorian 2YO Classic is the Team Hayes-trained runner Regor (Extreme Choice).

The colt was the second-highest lot at this year’s Magic Millions Adelaide sale, knocked down to syndicator Laurel Oak for $360,000, from the Rushton Park draft.

“I hadn’t been to Adelaide for at least ten years, but I picked out three pedigrees I liked,” Laurel Oak’s Louis Mihalyka told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“I flew down on the Monday, went to the sale on the Tuesday, and thankfully all three were within 25 lots of each other. I didn’t like two of them, but I did like this Extreme Choice colt, so we went out of our way to buy him.

“He was definitely the most expensive yearling we bought this year, though in the previous two years we’d had a couple more expensive.”

Regor has so far lived up to the billing – and to the record of his ever-surging sire Extreme Choice, the speedy Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) winner who’s just had a Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) hero in Knight’s Choice.

Sent out in an 800-metre Flemington jump-out last Friday, Regor was always well ahead of his four rivals and, after a little hands-and-heels shake-up at the 200 metres, coasted to the line to win by some eight lengths.

“He’s always gone well on the track,” Mihalyka said. “They tried some mini gallops with five or six other horses and Regor and another one cleared out in front, which is always a good sign.”

While Regor’s participation this Saturday wasn’t yet guaranteed, Mihalyka indicated the preference might be to run, to allow time for enough work and race experience before the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic at the Gold Coast on January 11.

With that lucrative race only a month away, the switch of the Victorian lead up away from Ballarat Cup day to be held a week later at Caulfield Heath has put something of a pinch on for contenders for the main event.

“I did a bit of homework, and only one winner of the Gold Coast race in the past nine years has debuted less than four weeks beforehand – and that was Houtzen, who lived up there and didn’t have to travel,” Mihalyka said.

“No horse has won it without two starts into it, but if you go bang, bang, bang, that’s a tough ask for two-year-olds, so we’re just playing it by ear.

“But we were very happy with the jump-out, and at least the way he went there means all of those possibilities are still in the conversation.”

Regor is the second foal of the city-winning Tiara Star (Congrats), a half-sister to Zoutenant (Zizou), who won Wyong’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1100m) in 2014.

“He had a nice sex-balanced in-breeding to Mr. Prospector [4m x 4f], which has worked well in other horses,” Mihalyka said.

“It’s funny, I wasn’t real fussed on him being out of a Congrats mare. But she was from a family of [Turangga Farm breeder] Stuart Ramsey’s, and I’d done a lot of work with Stuey on the family. So I knew the family and liked the horse, and that outweighed my hesitation over a Congrats mare.

“And then you look at Private Harry, who won his third from three at Rosehill on Saturday, and he’s out of a Congrats mare, so hopefully it works for us too.”