MAGIC MOMENT
Imperious Imperatriz breaks record at $6.6 million
Just as she did time and time again on the racetrack, Te Akau’s ten-time Group 1 winner Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) delivered an impressive result in the sales ring, smashing the Australasian record on Tuesday for the highest-priced mare sold at auction on Tuesday.
International heavyweights battled it out for the right to own the world’s highest-rated sprinter and recently retired champion mare, with Zhijun Zhao, a close friend of Yulong owner Zhang Yuesheng, prepared to pay $6.6 million for the privilege of owning the recently retired mare who was sold in absentia at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
The record-breaking Imperatriz, the most expensive of five mares to sell for $2 million or more during the Gold Coast’s race fillies and mares more than seven-hour session which grossed almost $52 million.
The bidding on Imperatriz opened at $4 million and progressed in $250,000 increments to $6.5 million when Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier held the bid for the rising six-year-old mare.
Zhao responded to auctioneer Steve Davis’ urgings by placing the $6.6 million winning online bid.
It was soon evident that Imperatriz was heading to Victoria when Magnier hung up the phone, ending the high-stakes duel for a rare equine commodity, forcing the Coolmore army to be content with its $7.6-million spend on three prized fillies and mares earlier in the session headed by Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar), the half-sister to this year’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Lady Of Camelot’s (Written Tycoon), who the secured for $3.5 million.
There were three players bidding on Imperatriz above $6 million – Zhao, Magnier and the Arrowfield table which included Northern Farm representative Shingo Hashinoto – in the hope of securing Imperatriz.
Zhao’s representative Vin Cox believes Imperatriz’s race record puts her on a pedestal alongside some of the world’s greatest ever race mares and he described her as a rare commodity.
“There are very few horses that win ten Group 1s, so she’s in the top half-dozen. Certainly in the top ten mares of all time. She’d have to be,” Cox said.
“The Zenyattas, the Sunlines, and things like that come to mind and she punches up there with them.”
Imperatriz’s price surpasses the 2008 record held by Milanova (Danehill) who made $5 million to Coolmore while she also broke Magic Millions’ own National Sale record of $4.2 million for champion sprinter Sunlight (Zoustar), who was bought by Coolmore in 2020.
The experienced Cox, former managing director of Magic Millions, reasoned that the prices paid for Australasia’s premier race mares off the track were now catching up to what similarly performed horses realise in the northern hemisphere.
“I’ve always thought mares in Australia are undervalued compared to the northern hemisphere,” Cox said.
“If you look at what elite mares can make in America or Europe, we’ve always been – in my view – about half price. Conversely, our stallions are probably valued more than they are in the northern hemisphere.
“It has always intrigued me having spent a lot of time in the northern hemisphere that our mares don’t get to these levels. In how much time we’re going to catch up, I’m not sure. Probably years.”
A $360,000 Magic Millions purchase in 2020 by Te Akau’s David Ellis, Imperatriz was victorious in 19 of her 27 race starts, emerging from a successful two-year-old season to win the Levin Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) and the New Zealand Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at three, when she was trained by Jamie Richards.
But it was at four when Imperatriz truly came into her own, winning The Railway (Gr 1, 1200m), the BCD Sprint (Gr 1, 1400m) and a William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at her second Australian start. This season, she enjoyed an unbeaten spring, winning an AJ Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), a Manikato (Gr 1, 1200m) and a Champions Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m).
In the autumn, in what would be her final racing campaign, the Mark Walker-trained Imperatriz won a Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and a second William Reid. She retired the winner of $6,955,527 in prize-money.
Ellis and his wife Karyn have been playing host to numerous prospective buyers who have visited Te Akau Stud in New Zealand to inspect Imperatriz.
Cox was one of them, enjoying the Te Akau hospitality last week while casting his eye over Imperatriz.
“She’s in the paddock at the farm at the moment. It is dark right now at Te Akau,” said David Ellis, who was seated ringside to watch the drama unfold.
“The young lady who looks after her is in the paddock and she had an iPad and was showing Imperatriz being sold.
“We’ve got a photo of it so it is quite priceless, really.”
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch cut a satisfied figure after the sale of Imperatriz.
“We worked pretty hard to get her to the sale. But it is fulfilling when it comes to fruition in the sale ring,” Bowditch said.
“You have to make sure you dot your I’s and cross your T’s and share the journey with the ownership group. There were three bidders at $6 million or more and that shows the thirst for quality.
“We worked hard to promote her as a global phenomenon and that the big farms should participate on her.
“You never want to be complacent and it was important to ensure David and Karyn’s confidence in this place to sell her.
“I thought the way it was handled by the team, it made up for her not being here.”
Zhijun Zhao also bought recent TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Chain Of Lightning (Fighting Sun) for $2.5 million and the mare’s new owner is almost certain to resist the temptation to campaign her in the UK.
Instead, the striking grey mare Chain Of Lightning is set to stay in Australia, with her new owners strongly considering concentrating on the remainder of the Queensland Winter Carnival rather than taking up an invitation to race at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting.
Cox, who will consult with the mare’s senior trainer Peter Moody, suggested that the top hats and tails would likely remain in the cupboard for this year’s five-day UK racing extravaganza.
“I don’t know if we’ll put her on the plane to go to Europe at this stage,” Cox said.
“We’ll have a chat to Peter, we haven’t spoken directly to him yet, but there are some good options here in Australia as well. We’ll just wait and see.”
The Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Tatt’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) is the preferred option for the rising six-year-old following her breakthrough TJ Stakes success and in doing so becoming the first mare to win the race since Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) in 2013.
She subsequently ran sixth in last month’s All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) before heading north to Queensland for the Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m) where she finished sixth, 2.93 lengths behind winner Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai).
Chain Of Lightning has been nominated for the King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) at Royal Ascot, while she also holds a nomination for the July Cup (Gr 1, 6f) at Newmarket.
A homebred for Turangga Farm’s Stuart Ramsey and sold through the Kenmore Lodge draft, she is a daughter of Magic Art (Perugino) and a granddaughter of Group 3-winning juvenile Mardi’s Magic (Kenny’s Best Pal). She is also from the same family as champion three-year-old Racing To Win (Encosta De Lago) and last season’s MRC Autumn Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Glint Of Silver (Rubick).
Cox added: “There is a little bit of serendipity. Stu said this has been a 20-year project, having bought the grandmother – I sold him the grandmother.
“As a private agent we drove down to Boscobel Stud to buy her, so it was kind of fun.”
A matter-of-fact Ramsey didn’t let sentiment get in the way of selling his mare, just as he did when he parted with Champagne Cuddles (Not A Single Doubt) for $2 million at the same Gold Coast sale in 2020.
Ramsey also sold Rose Of Kingston (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Life Lessons (Tavistock), who is a daughter of Group 3 winner Brockman’s Lass (Encosta De Lago), for $1 million later in the session with that mare also going the way of Zhijun Zhao.
“That’s the sort of money those mares are worth, they don’t come along very often. We’re happy to move on and breed the next one,” Ramsey said of Chain Of Lightning.
“We’re breeders, but there’s a lot you can’t sell. At the end of the day, we couldn’t even get her mother into the sale, but we’ve turned her into $2.5 million, plus $2.5 million prize-money. That’s $5 million.
“It’s hard to get with a pick and shovel, isn’t it, so you’ve got to be satisfied.”
As for potential matings for Chain Of Lightning when she is eventually retired, Cox said: “When they win the Group 1 sprints and, outside of that race [TJ Smith Stakes], she has got a very good race record as well, so whether you’re selling them or trying to produce a racehorse out of them, they set you up very well.”