Promising I Am Invincible colt Hellbent had a good look at the Flemington straight when finishing eighth to Japonisme in the Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes during the spring, that experience standing him in good stead when he returned to the same venue to win the $250,000 Inglis Dash on Saturday. Trained at Goulburn by Kurt Goldman, Hellbent has been showing stakes potential since winning his maiden at Canterbury in June last year and while the Inglis Dash carries no Black Type, it did carry plenty of cash. He travelled comfortably in the run for Dwayne Dunn behind the leaders and accelerated sharply over the final furlongs to win the 1100 metre sprint by a length over promising filly Mossin’ Around. “He relaxed in behind them and then put them to the sword,” said Dwayne Dunn. “He was obviously the best horse in the race, he just needed to bring his A game. “He’ll be better again this time next year and might come back here to contest a serious race.” A $95,000 Inglis Classic Summer Book purchase from the draft of Dartbrook Downs Thoroughbreds, Hellbent has the overall record of three wins and two placings from six starts with prizemoney topping $274,000. He is the second winner for metro winning Volksraad (GB) mare Volkaspray, who comes from the family of triple Group I winning Kiwi mare Viadana. Volkaspray was one of 190 mares covered last spring by I Am Invincible at the increased fee of $55,000. I Am Invincible also had a smart winner at Morphettville with three year-old gelding Abu Dhabi scoring his second win for Lloyd Kennewell. Abu Dhabi was a $90,000 Inglis Premier purchase from the draft of Yarraman Park, who will offer his full sister as Lot 514 at the 2016 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale next month.
