Red hot in the sale ring at the Gold Coast this week, I Am Invincible was also on fire at the track with two feature race winners on the $10million Magic Millions race day at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
It was an I Am Invincible quinella in the $1million Magic Millions Fillies and Mares with Invincibella defeating Eckstein with just a short half head separating the talented duo in the 1300 metre sprint.
Stakes-placed on five occasions in her 21-start career before Saturday, Invincibella finally broke through for a feature race victory, much to the delight of trainer Chris Waller.
Waller said the four-year-old had raced with limited luck in several of her runs during Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival last year and was deserving of a win for owner Denise Martin, whose Star Thoroughbreds syndicate parted with $185,000 to secure the galloper at the 2015 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from the Sledmere Stud draft.
“She ran in the Spring Carnival in Melbourne and she didn’t have a lot of luck,” Waller said.
“I thought it was going to pan out the same today because she was three wide but she did track into the race with cover, made a long sustained run and got her nose down when it counted.
“It’s a million-dollar race, it can change people’s lives.
“To bring a horse up here that was just struggling to win those serious races and get it right on the day, it’s a credit to my team around the country and having a base up here on the Gold Coast is a very important thing.”
As good as Invincibella and Eckstein surely are, five year-old mare Viddora is even better!
Any questions about Viddora’s status as Australia’s sprint queen were answered in emphatic style at the Gold Coast on Saturday where the star mare scored an effortless win in the $1 million Harrolds Magic Millions Snippets (1200m).
In her first outing since winning the $1million Group I WATC Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) in Perth last year, the daughter of I Am Invincible avenged her narrow placing to Target In Sight on last year’s Magic Millions Raceday.
Guided by regular rider Joe Bowditch, Viddora settled off the speed and was forced wide around the turn but encountered little difficulty overhauling her rivals to race clear and win by more than two lengths.
Morphettville horseman Lloyd Kennewell said there were now a number of options for his star mare including a tilt at this year’s $13 million Everest at Randwick in October.
“She pulled their pants down, she was the best horse in the race,” Kennewell said.
“She didn’t have the best run because she was sprayed on the turn but she still won by two-and-a-half or three lengths pulling up so I’m really proud of that.
“We ultimately want to get to The Everest and we’ve been invited overseas as well so she’s got options but we’ve also got Adelaide and two million dollar races in her own backyard.”
Viddora’s part owners include Jennifer Bowditch, wife of triumphant jockey Joe.
Saturday’s win, the eight of Viddora’s career, took her earnings past $2 million, much to the delight of connections who parted with what is now considered a bargain $40,000 to secure the filly at the 2014 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
The mare was bred and sold by the Hodgson family’s Riva Ridge Stud on the fringes of the Barossa Valley and is from Melbourne metropolitan winner Snow Flight.
Formerly known as the Magic Millions Sprint – this year’s race was renamed the Magic Millions Snippets and was sponsored by Harrolds. The race is named in honour of the inaugural Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner and former champion sire Snippets.
The trophy presented to Snippets in 1987 is now a perpetual award presented to the winning connections in a wonderful touch from the Augustine family who raced Snippets.
I Am Invincible is currently third ion the Australian General Sires List by earnings with 92 winners of $7.5 million in prizemoney and 11 stakes-winners for this season.
