Te Akau’s David Ellis described the I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit ) juvenile out of twin group 1 winner Shillelagh (Savabeel) as “the nicest colt he’d seen on the Prepared To Run Sale” and he confirmed his admiration for the teen when stretching to an Australasian file of NZ$1.65 million (US$973,500, NZ$1=US$0.59) to safe the Kiltannon Stables providing throughout the first session of the New Zealand Bloodstock public sale on Nov. 20.
The earlier southern hemisphere file for a 2-year-old at public sale was delivered on the Inglis Ready2Run Sale final month when a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) filly wrote her manner into the historical past books when Yulong forked out a cool $1 million to safe her.
Nevertheless, that new file seemed prone to be short-lived when the well-bred Vinnie colt posted the quickest breeze forward of the NZB sale, clocking an electrical time of :9.97, making him the one horse among the many 404-strong providing to go beneath the :10 second barrier and, late within the afternoon on Wednesday, the colt very a lot delivered on that promise.
Ellis is thought for his important firepower, however even he appeared on the ropes at occasions throughout the fierce bidding battle. He traded blows with Sha Tin-based coach Cody Mo, his agent Denys Chan, and Hong Kong-based proprietor Kin Man Yeung, finally touchdown the profitable seven-figure blow, which was sufficient to maintain Mo and Chan at bay.
“I used to be on the toe the entire time he was within the ring, as a result of I actually needed to take this horse house. At one stage my spouse Karyn [Fenton-Ellis] mentioned to me, ‘Should you actually, actually like this colt, do not be crushed.’ That gave me the boldness to place in these final couple of bids,” mentioned Ellis.
Shillelagh was skilled by Te Akau’s former coach Jamie Richards to win 4 of her six begins in New Zealand for proprietor/breeders Christopher and Susanna Grace and Ellis mentioned that made the end result further particular.
“The truth that we skilled Shillelagh for Christopher and Susanna Grace makes this fairly particular for Te Akau, however the easy truth is that I believed he was simply the nicest colt I’ve ever seen on the Prepared To Run Sale,” he mentioned.
“Harry and Invoice Mitchell, who stand I Am Invincible at Yarraman Park, mentioned to me that that is as good an I Am Invincible colt as they’ve seen, and they’ll be taking a share.
The colt was consigned by Mark and Lorraine Forbes’s Kiltannon Stables, and the latter was overcome with emotion when the 2-year-old left the ring, having smashed the sale’s earlier file of NZ$825,000, which was set by final 12 months’s top-lot, who’s now higher referred to as Oxlade Stakes 1300m winner Megastar Coronary heart (Star Flip).
The colt has champion stallions on either side of his pedigree being by I Am Invincible, who was topped Australia’s champion sire for a 3rd time final season, whereas he’s out of a daughter of Waikato’s New Zealand’s nine-time and reigning champion stallion Savabeel. He’s additionally bred on the identical cross as six winners from ten runners and they’re headed by the 2023 Lonhro Plate at1000m scorer Madeira Dawn.
Day one of many Able to Run sale noticed a gross of NZ$18,547,000, (US$10,942,730, NZ$1=US$0.59) 14% on the earlier 12 months, with a median of $173,336, and a median of $90,000. The clearance charge was 66%, representing the 107 horses who offered from 161 on supply.
The second and last session of the sale will likely be Nov. 21.
