Spring options abound for Tiz Invincible after Rosebud victory
Maher and McDonald mull best path after I Am Invincible filly breaks maiden in competitive stakes contest
Superbly bred filly Tiz Invincible (I Am Invincible) laid down a marker for a very promising spring ahead, with her first racetrack victory coming in black-type company in The Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) at Rosehill yesterday.
The filly, trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, began her campaign as one of the more promising maidens in Australia, having been placed in the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) in one of her two starts as a two-year-old, having finished fourth in the Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) on debut.
Starting a $3.4 favourite in the early-season three-year-old feature, Tiz Invincible gave her backers and connections a few early worries after she dwelt at the start of the 1100-metre sprint, but she was quickly up on the heels of the early speed, set by the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained duo Introducing (Trapeze Artist) and The Instructor (Russian Revolution).
In an aggressive ride, James McDonald shouldered Tiz Invincible into the clear inside Infatuation (Exceed And Excel) at the 300-metre mark and set out after the leaders.
She took some time to overpower the Waterhouse and Bott pair, but took control in the final stages to defeat Introducing by a long-neck on the line, with The Instructor finishing a gallant third. Just over two lengths separated the entire eight-horse field, with the Chris Waller-trained Cigar Flick (Churchill) closing off well to finish fourth, finishing three-quarters of a length adrift of the winner.
With a host of three-year-old features, including the Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Princess Series for the fillies to follow in Sydney in the next couple of months, there are no shortage of options for Tiz Invincible as she attempts to add further black-type to an already impressive pedigree page.
By reigning champion sire I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Tiz Invincible is out of Amuletum (New Approach), a half-sister to nine-time Group 1 winner and now Darley stallion Anamoe (Street Boss), who looks destined to be crowned last season’s Australian Racehorse of the Year.
Bred by Phoenix Thoroughbreds, Tiz Invincible was offered by Segenhoe Thoroughbreds at the 2022 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where she fetched $550,000 to a combination of Bahen Bloodstock, Ciaron Maher Racing, Eric Lucas and Astute Bloodstock.
Co-trainer Maher was clearly delighted to get a win on the board for the owners with a filly he holds in considerable esteem.
“Beautiful. Someone just said to me, ‘you don’t often break your maiden in stakes races, especially in a field like that’,” he said. “She has always been a quality filly and she has got a huge pedigree.
“She was a little bit slow into gear, but I didn’t mind that, as she was always going to get a good run, but just in the mid stages, she got up on the bridle a little bit, and being a bit soft, I thought she might feel that late, but her quality kicked in.”
The tough-but-impressive success saw her become the first filly to win The Rosebud in 11 years, emulating what She’s A Fox (Fastnet Rock) did in 2012. The honour roll in the years since features a host of future stallions, among them subsequent Group 1 winner Paulele (Dawn Approach), who joins the Darley roster this year.
That honour roll in itself will set expectations high for Tiz invincible, and while not wanting to put an exact path in chain, Maher said she was far from restricted to just feature sprints.
“I was just talking to [Astute Bloodstock’s] Louis [Le Metayer] and he told me her mother won over 2800 metres. I’m not sure she’ll be getting out that far, but she is sharp, she trialled up well, and she has been sharp in that win there, so I’ll be interested in what James [McDonald] has to say,” he said.
“She‘s just a proper racehorse, you could see how she had to push out and make her own luck and then still knuckle down. For a green horse, it was a fantastic ride by him, and he doesn’t often get it wrong.”
McDonald said he was surprised by the way Tiz Invincible was able to finish off the race.
“She started to truck up pretty strongly, she hasn’t shown that in her trials so it caught me by surprise and then she had to make her way out and she knuckled down with a huge weight,” he said.
“It’s a hard one with her [how far she will get]. Being a three-year-old filly she will stretch further but probably as a later mare she will get faster. Off her trials, I thought she was a miler; off today, I think she’s a faster horse.”
Amuletum, a winner of one of her five starts on the track for owner Paul Makin, was the final northern hemisphere foal for Australian-bred Group 1 winner Anamato (Redoute’s Choice) before she returned to Australia for Darley in 2013. She would follow her dam to Australia in 2019, having been purchased by Phoenix Thoroughbreds through Dermot Farrington for 75,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale in 2017.
She was in foal to Kingman (Invincible Spirit) on her arrival in 2019, producing a colt named Royal Mule, who has just turned four and is still unraced. After foaling Tiz Invincible, Amuletum has since produced a colt by Pierata (Pierro), purchased by Aquis Stallions/Justin Fung for $200,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year, and she now has a now yearling colt by I Am Invincible. She visited former Aquis resident Aclaim (Acclamation) last year.
The value of that family came to the fore in the past week when Warm Smile (New Approach), a three-quarter sister to Amuletum, and another granddaughter of Anamato, sold to Bulla Thoroughbreds for $350,000 on the Inglis Digital August (Early) Online Sale.
Tiz Invincible becomes the 98th stakes winner for her Yarraman Park-based sire, 34 of which have been stakes successful as three-year-old fillies.
Empire awaits See You In Heaven
A fifth stakes success in her burgeoning career in yesterday’s Behemoth Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) has See You In Heaven’s (Divine Prophet) trainers Richard and Chantelle Jolly plotting Group 1 goals for their star four-year-old mare.
The Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington on November 4 has been pencilled in as the main spring target for See You In Heaven, who was making her first appearance at Morphettville on Saturday since finishing second in The Vanity (Gr 3, 1400m) at Flemington in February.
Ongoing feet issues had kept her out of the feature Adelaide racing carnival in May, but on her first four-year-old start, she showed she has lost none of her dash, profiting from a positive ride from Jake Toeroek to defeat 2021 The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Savatoxl (Kuroshio) by just over a length, with Manhatten Times (Manhattan Rain) another length away in third.
For Chantelle Jolly, it was exactly what the stable was hoping to see from the talented mare on her resumption.
“Considering she is still underdone, it’s exciting to think of where she might go next,” she said. “[Missing the Adelaide carnival] probably did her the world of good. She went out and had a decent spell. We know she has had a few feet issues in the past and that time out allowed her feet to grow and harden up and she has come back bigger and stronger.”
A winner of a trio of stakes races as a two-year-old, See You In Heaven’s biggest racetrack success came in last year’s Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600 metres). But her successful return has the Jollys plotting even greater riches for her with another Victorian raid in the coming months.
“She will head to the Leon MacDonald Stakes in two weeks here, and then we will look to take her to Melbourne, with her end game the Empire Rose, over a mile for the mares,” Jolly said.
Toeroek, Jolly’s partner as well as See You In Heaven’s jockey, said it was the perfect way to build the mare into her spring campaign.
“I was happy to ride her a bit arrogantly today and ride her like the best horse in the race. She loomed up like she was going to blow them away and she knocked up a bit late, but she had a massive blow and there is heaps of improvement there,” he said.
“I think it’s the best we’ve had her in any of her preps, she is flying. She’s onto bigger and better things, we just want to see her take that next step to Group 1 level now.”
See You In Heaven has become the marquee horse for her sire Divine Prophet (Choisir), who has relocated to Highview Stud for the upcoming season. From his second crop during his time at Aquis, she is one of his two stakes winners, and his leading prize-money earner.
Bred by Aquis in partnership with G1G Racing and Breeding, the filly is out of Anabaa (Danzig) mare Shine On Anna. Initially a $27,000 Magic Millions weanling purchase for Kestrel Thoroughbreds, she was offered through the Alexia Fraser Bloodstock draft at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, where the Jollys signed for her for $90,000.
See You In Heaven is one of five winners out of Shine On Anna, who was sold to Auravale Stud in 2020. The mare has a two-year-old colt by Cliff’s Edge (Canford Cliffs), who fetched $210,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and a now yearling colt by Toronado (High Chaparral). She was not covered in 2022.