Royal Ascot last week produced so many interesting results from a breeding perspective, but one of the most fascinating from an Australian point of view was the historic first for our champion sire I Am Invincible.
Set to be crowned Australia’s champion sire for the third year in a row, I Am Invincible has also been making gradual inroads as a broodmare sire and he featured at Royal Ascot as sire of the dam of brilliant sprinter Asfoora, who captured the Group I King Charles Stakes (5f) to the delight of her owner Akram El-Fahkri of Noor Elaine Farm and trainer Henry Dwyer.
She is the first foal of Golden Child, who was conceived in the second crop of foals by I Am Invincible, back in the days when the Yarraman Park based sire sensation stood at a fee of $11,000.
It wasn’t until 2017 that his fee soared to $110,000, so the majority of mares covered in the early years lacked for pedigree and as such they aren’t premium prospects for elite success at stud, but that hasn’t stopped Golden Child, who made just $60,000 at Inglis Premier in 2014 when bought by Dynamic Syndications.
She had four starts for one third placing at Geelong and found her way to the paddocks at Noor Elaine Farm.
I Am Invincible has had a relatively slow start as a broodmare sire due to the lack of quality in those early books of mares, but will have an explosion of success as the years pass.
He has sired the dams of six stakes-winners so far, but tellingly five of them have come this season and they are listed below.
G1 Asfoora (5m Flying Artie)
G2 Kimochi (3f Brave Smash (Jpn)
G2 Straight Charge (2c Written By)
L Sans Doute (4m Not a Single Doubt)
L Kalino (5g Pierro)
His 2018 foal crop conceived in the year his fee jumped to $110,000 contained Home Affairs, now the hottest young sire in the country with his first yearlings to sell next year and also 10 time G1 winner Imperatriz, who sold for a record breaking $6.6million at the recent Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
When this crop of horses and those that follow settle into their stud careers expect the stocks of I Am Invincible to soar as both a sire of sires and sire of broodmares setting him up as a breed shaper for the 21st century.
I Am Invincible (Foaled 2004)