Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible came of age at Flemington on Derby Day with not one, but two stakes-winners, courtesy of I Am a Star taking the Group I VRC Myer Classic and Illustrious Lad closing the program with a powerful win in the Group II VRC Tab,com,au Stakes. The Shane Nichols trained three year-old filly I Am a Star scored a historic win over the older mares in the Group I VRC Myer Classic (1600m) to become the second Group I winner for her sire, while progressive sprinter Illustrious Lad gave promise that he may emerge as his third Group I winner with an exciting sprint win. Ridden by Anthony Darmanin, Illustrious Lad raced on the pace and forged to win by a length and a quarter running the 1200 metres in 1:08.31, which was quicker than star colt Flying Artie recorded when winning the Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes earlier in the day. “We had him in two races here and we chose the harder one because we had the confidence in our horse,” said winning trainer Peter Gelagotis. “It’s fair to say Illustrious Lad has come of age and it’s great to see Anthony Darmanin win a race here at Flemington on him. “We’ll see how he comes out of this before deciding what we do next.” Illustrious Lad has the overall record of nine wins from 25 starts with over $550,000 in prizemoney. Bred and sold by Yarraman Park, Illustrious Lad was a $40,000 Magic Millions purchase for part-owner Anthony Pannozzo and is the only living foal of Group III placed Zeditave mare Industrious, who comes from the family of brilliant sprinters Better Than Ready, Miss Mooney Mooney and Publishing. I Am Invincible has enjoyed a dizzying run of success over the past month recording 36 winners in the past 30 days to challenge as leading sire of winners in the country, four of them coming today. Click here to see his winners.
