With The Championships just around the corner and the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale featuring the best of the best there is a growing interest in the state of play as regards our leading sires and the deeds of their progeny on the racetrack and while there is usually a fierce fight at the top of the sires list by earnings, that is not the case this year.
Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible is shooting for his third consecutive Australian Champion Sire Title and already has it in the bag with progeny earnings at $26.6million putting him more than $9million clear of his nearest rival.
His 133 winners include 14 stakes-winners that have won 26 stakes races and leading the way has been 10 time G1 winner Imperatriz, who is his most successful racehorse ever.
I Am Invincible is on track to break the all time Australian record for seasonal progeny earnings by a sire set by Snitzel in the 2017/2018 season when his 173 winners included 26 stakes-winners that won $29.2million. Those stakes-winners included Everest hero Redzel and Golden Slipper winner Estijaab, plus two colts now at stud in Trapeze Artist and Russian Revolution.
Ironically, the stallion in the daylight position that year was a younger I Am Invincible, whose 158 winners included 19 stakes-winners that year amassing some $15.9million.
Given we are only coming to the end of March and there are four more months of the season to come it is not unthinkable to see I Am Invincible becoming the first sire to hit $30million in seasonal earnings!
The leading sire list also puts into perspective the deeds of I Am Invincible’s Group I winning sire son Hellbent, who has surged to the front of the third season sires table clearing his perennial rival Russian Revolution and has also quietly slid into 12th place just outside the Top 10 on the general sires list.
With his oldest progeny now four, Hellbent (above) has three crops racing and all were conceived from service fees less than $30,000, which puts his achievement into perspective when you consider the company he is keeping.
His four stakes-winners are Group I winner Magic Time, Group winners Benedetta and Hell Hath No Fury as well as slick juvenile Fully Lit, winner of the Inglis Millennium.
You won’t find any yearlings by Hellbent at Inglis Easter this year, but a solid book of mares last year at the increased fee of $38,500 will see his stocks on an upward trajectory in the years to come.
