Star $350,000 I Am Invincible filly joins Waller stable after Martin takes home ‘the one’
Strong finish to Inglis Classic Yearling Sale session as wild weather hits Riverside
Star Thoroughbreds’ Denise Martin left her mark on day one of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, an auction that has proven fruitful for the syndicator in the past, with four high-profile purchases, including the session-topping $350,000 I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) filly.
The top-priced youngster, who was one of 35 lots to make $150,000 or more, was the highlight “on a challenging day” in which torrential rain and the impact of coronavirus were said to limit the depth of the buying bench.
The momentum of the sale picked up noticeably late in the session and while Inglis managing director Mark Webster expects that to continue today, he admitted that some buyers from China, Hong Kong and Singapore had cancelled their attendance due to the viral emergency.
“I think some people were in shock when they arrived and saw the horizontal rain and some buyers couldn’t get out to see the horses,” Webster said.
“We had more than 150 millimetres of rain, which made it a challenging day. Putting it all into context, to average nearly $92,000 is quite respectable. A lot of the passed in horses will get sold.
“We traded $17.7 million and that’s the highest amount of turnover on a single day for the Classic Sale, so that’s a positive.
“Obviously, the market is very selective and won’t compromise on type, but I think we’ll have more horses make $100,000 or more than in the past. We should have another strong day (today) with the forecast showing five to ten millimetres of rain.”
Meanwhile, Martin and her agent Brett Howard of Randwick Bloodstock, who struck early for a $220,000 Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) filly and went to $180,000 for a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) colt, were the leading buyers with a spend of $960,000.
They added a Pierro (Lonhro) colt for $210,000 before buying the I Am Invincible filly from vendor Fairhill Farm, and Martin admitted she may have been prepared to go higher for the prized youngster had underbidder Brae Sokolski continued to offer resistance.
“We have raced I Am Invincible fillies including Invincibella and Fiesta, who I bought at the Inglis Classic Sale, so we were keen to buy another one this year. And this is the one, the full-sister to Joviality, which I bought last year. It seemed like a good fit,” Martin said.
“I paid $330,000 for the sister and I know the average for I Am Invincible fillies is up this year, so I thought the $330,000 of last year wasn’t going to fit. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to go to $400,000.”
The Star Thoroughbreds filly, who was catalogued as Lot 256 , is the sixth foal out of the winning Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Limbo Down. Her two foals to race are both winners and they include the talented, but injury-plagued, Limbo Soul (I Am Invincible).
Fairhill Farm’s Mike O’Donnell was confident the filly would sell well when she had 11 x-ray hits in the lead-up to the sale.
“We were delighted with the result. She is a beautiful filly and she’s gone to Denise Martin, which is great because she has the two-year-old,” O’Donnell said.
“She was very busy all week and right the way through. It’s a fantastic result for the farm.”
Martin also made a strong move early in the session and was pleased to secure a filly by another sire-son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) in first season Arrowfield Stud shuttler Shalaa.
She is the eighth living foal out of the stakes-placed mare Boom Time Savings (Secret Savings), who is a half-sister to the stakes-placed sprinter Boomwaa (Mutawaajid).
Martin braved the heavy rain and traffic conditions to ensure she was at the Warwick Farm complex in time to buy the filly.
“We thought she was a very precocious filly and one of the yearlings that I particularly wanted to go home with,” Martin said of Lot 20.
“I was one of the few people who (braved the wet) and maybe a few people were late arriving.
“She has speed in the family and she has a relative (Boomwaa) who was very precocious. She was a yearling that I was really happy to have run under the Star banner.
“I thought she’d be expensive because I knew she was somewhat of a standout, so I figured she would be about ($220,000).”
Later, Martin and Howard also landed the Canning Downs Stud-offered Written Tycoon colt, who is the second foal out of the unraced Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) mare Cannolina, herself a half-sister to the European stakes winner Al Malhouf (Dutch Art). He was catalogued as Lot 38.
The pair’s final purchase on day one, the Pierro colt form Tyreel Stud, is the second foal out of the city-winning I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) mare Lanikai. He was catalogued as Lot 246.
The quartet will be trained by Chris Waller.
Powerful colts syndicate secures Deep Field colt for $320,000
Earlier in the session, the potent China Horse Club-Newgate Bloodstock colts syndicate added to their enviable arsenal of young horses with the purchase of a $320,000 Deep Field (Northern Meteor) colt before acquiring a son of Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock).
It was left to China Horse Club’s Michael Wallace to sign for the colts and he momentarily had the honour of purchasing the highest-priced lot of the day to go with his $240,000 Hinchinbrook youngster.
Wallace said the Deep Field yearling, who will be trained by Peter and Paul Snowden, fitted the syndicate’s well-known criteria as a potential early–running juvenile.
“Everyone knows what we are after – we are after those fast, sprinting two and three-year-old colts and he fitted that,” Wallace said.
“There’s a few people waiting and, as we’ve seen all year, these quality two-year-old-looking colts make their money, especially by stallions as good as Deep Field.
“He has got a lot of power, a lot of quality, so you can see that coming through, and he’s got that Exceed And Excel balance in him as well, so he is a horse that will fit the mould.”
The highest-priced colt in the session was consigned by Fairview Park Stud as Lot 155 and he is the fifth living foal out of the unraced Fragrant Storm (Exceed And Excel), herself a half-sister to Perth Listed winner Texan (Stratum).
He will be raced by the same partnership who experienced success with the now Newgate Farm-based, Group 1-winning stallion Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and this season’s Inglis Nursery (RL, 1000m) winner Wild Ruler (Snitzel).
They also have three-year-old Cosmic Force (Deep Field), who won the Pago Pago Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at two and the Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) during the spring.
“This colt is a good mover like Cosmic Force, but he is a bit more physically square and stronger,” Wallace said.
The agent also confirmed yesterday that another syndicate-owned two-year-old colt Rulership (I Am Invincible), who was runner-up in Saturday’s Blue Diamond Prelude (Gr 3, 1100m) to Hanseatic (Street Boss), will run in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Caulfield on February 22.
“He lost no admirers. He wasn’t beaten far and the winner is very, very good, but two weeks’ time is a different story,” Walllace said.
“We will stick him in there again (Blue Diamond). We have got a very good group (of two-year-olds) and I know Peter Snowden is happy with them. Henry (Field, Newgate managing director) is happy with them, so it looks like an exciting period to play out in the next few months.”
Wallace also signed for the Hinchinbrook half-brother to Group 3-winning juvenile Furnaces (Exceed And Excel), who was sold by Bell River Thoroughbreds in the Ferguson family’s return to selling yearlings. The colt was catalogued as Lot 178.
Waterhouse and Bott keep backing Sebring
Adrian Bott believes elite yearlings stand out at the Classic Sale and he was not surprised about the competition surrounding a son of Sebring (More Than Ready), who is heading to the trainer’s stable after making $240,000 yesterday morning.
The Yarraman Park-consigned colt is the second foal out of the Canny Lad (Bletchingly) mare Canny Time, who in turn is a half-sister to Group 2-winning sprinter Charlie Boy (Myboycharlie) and the stakes-placed Cousteau (Exceed And Excel). The colt was catalogued as Lot 39.
“He was a nice, imposing individual and I would think he would get up nice and early for us,” said Bott, whose co-trainer Gai Waterhouse prepared Sebring to win the 2008 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
“He was just the sort of type we tried to target out of the sale and he was sold by a vendor who has great results producing horses.
“He is by a stallion we love and we’ve had a lot of success with the progeny.”
Bott and Waterhouse combined with Chris Rutten Bloodstock and Vantage Thoroughbreds to buy the colt.
Much like the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m), the $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) is quickly becoming a target race and selling point for trainers.
“We want to get a horse who can get us back for the Millennium next year and he looks like an ideal candidate,” Bott said.
“I think it’s the type of sale where those types of horses standout and I think you have to be prepared to pay that sort of price, particularly given that he is by a proven stallion.”
Baker to train $210,000 Not A Single Doubt filly
Jim Clarke’s bid to build his profile also gathered pace yesterday, with the young agent securing a daughter of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), who will be trained by Bjorn Baker on behalf of new clients focused on buying fillies.
Clarke, who bought a Savabeel (Zabeel) filly for NZ$220,000 at the recent New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale in partnership with Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young for the same group, landed the Arrowfield Stud-consigned offering for $210,000.
“She is a lovely filly and with her pedigree she is going to be worth plenty of money, regardless of what she does on a racecourse,” Clarke said.
“She had a lot of quality about her, a typical Not A Single Doubt who is a very forward-running type.
“She will go to Bjorn, who obviously knows the family well having raced the mother, and he also had a fair bit to do with the sire (Dundeel) during his career. I am very excited, she is the one I wanted to buy and I’m very glad I bought her.”
The filly is the first foal out of the winning mare Forreel (Nom Du Jeu), a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner and high-class young stallion Dundeel (High Chaparral). She was catalogued as Lot 153.
According to Clarke, the fillies syndicate hope to cash in on a buoyant off-course market, rather than retaining their stock to breed with.
“This is a group of clients I put together at the backend of last year, just through my network, and we are looking to get fillies by proven stallions who have got good strong commercial pedigrees and hopefully with good racecourse performances we can upgrade their value,” he said.
“It is highly likely that anything that performs to stakes level will be going back through the broodmare sales in a few years’ time.”
Meanwhile, Clarke believed the market was “pretty strong” on day one.
“There have been plenty of nice horses around and the nice horses have been making good money,” he said.
“I think we’ve done pretty well, but it has certainly been competitive on the better horses.”
Foote happy with day one proceedings
Respected agent John Foote, who bought nine yearlings on day one with various parties – including a Pierro (Lonhro) filly from the same family as the stallion’s VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Pinot – thought the opening day market was sensible.
“It’s been pretty good. We’ve bought a couple so far and my clients have also bought, so it mustn’t have been too bad,” Foote said.
“I don’t think it’s a buyers’ market, but it’s not stupid.”
The Pierro filly was purchased by Foote on behalf of an existing Melbourne-based client for $210,000 from the Tyreel Stud draft and Victoria is the most likely destination for the yearling when her racing career begins.
Given the trajectory of the Coolmore-based Pierro, Foote believes the filly’s price tag was more than justified.
“I don’t know what Pierro’s service fee will be this year, but it will probably be over $100,000,” he said.
Catalogued as Lot 103, the filly is the second foal out of Dizzy Diva (Starspangledbanner), who is a daughter of the Listed winner Dizlago (Encosta De Lago), the half-sister to Pinot and the stakes-placed Lucky Lago (Encosta De Lago) and Rock Giselle (Fastnet Rock).
Tyreel Stud’s Linda Monds placed a “decent reserve on her and I think she’s an absolute athlete in the making”.
“She’s absolutely beautiful and from a very good family. We bred her to Pierro for a reason and the product we just sold was exactly what we wanted for her,” Monds said.
“I am very proud that John Foote saw exactly what I saw in her. She’s going to a Melbourne owner and is staying in Australia, which makes me happy.
“I own the broodmare Dizzy Diva and I think this filly is going to put that mare on the map.”
Dizzy Diva, who was selected by Belmont Bloodstock’s Damon Gabbedy for Monds at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale for $100,000, was covered by So You Think (High Chaparral) on September 1.
Day two of the condensed Inglis Classic Sale, reduced from five to three sessions compared to last year, starts at 10am today.
Sale statistics – day one
Catalogued 270
Offered 247
Sold 193 (78%)
Aggregate $17,733,000
Average $91,881
Median $80,000
Top Lot $350,000