Gold Coast, January 8 – I Am Invincible’s new benchmark price for a yearling did not last long with a stunning filly from Zelady fetching $440,000 to blow right out of the water his previous best which was set earlier today when a colt from Sunset Boulevard sold for $260,000.
The star filly was consigned by Yarraman Park for her breeder Jilly Henderson of Middlebrook Station Thoroughbreds and was purchased by Anthony Cavanagh and Co Pty Ltd for $440,000 making her the second most expensive filly sold on day one of the sale.
“They (I Am Invincible) are going fantastically well and they are good types and have a bit going for them,” Cavanagh said.
“He stands at a great stud, the Mitchell boys do a fantastic job.”
The filly will be trained in Adelaide by Phillip Stokes for Rod Menzies, principal of the Melbourne-based art auction house Deutscher Menzies.
“Rod had up to 40 horses in work at one time but scaled back to concentrate on his art business but now he wants to get back into racing horses,” Cavanagh said.
Her full sister made $80,000 at this sale last year when purchased by Sam Kavanagh, but the fortunes of her young sire have been on a sharp upward spiral in recent weeks leading to this phenomenal result.
She is a half-sister to stakes-winner Excites Zelady and four other winners being the seventh foal from smart metropolitan winning Zeditave mare Zelady, a grand-daughter of Group II GN Oaks winner Bound to Honour.
I Am Invincible had three yearlings sell on Wednesday, his star filly joined by a colt from Sunset Boulevard that made $260,000 and a colt from Tails Wins that made $190,000.
At the end of the day I Am Invincible finished as the leading sire by average, his $296,667 bettering that of More Than Ready (USA), Denman and Fastnet Rock, the next three sires on the list.
Not bad for a stallion that stands at $11,000!