Coolmore hoping lightning can strike twice with A$950,000 I Am Invincible colt

A A$950,000 (£514,000/€614,000) colt by top stallion I Am Invincible will join an enviable portfolio of young horses under the ownership of Coolmore Australia after principal Tom Magnier won an intense bidding duel late on the second day of the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

Global racing and breeding giant Coolmore’s push to find another Home Affairs, arguably the most valuable colt in training in Australia following his recent win in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes, led them to zero in on the top-priced son of I Am Invincible, a transaction which was also important for historic Hunter Valley breeder Widden Stud in its expansion into Victoria.

The colt was the highlight of another strong session of the 2022 sale, in which A$34.225 million changed hands on Monday, eclipsing the A$33,382,500 that was traded during Sunday’s opening day.

Anticipation built throughout the day that the Widden Stud-consigned I Am Invincible colt was likely to top the session and that was immediately evident when the opening bid was made at A$500,000, leading to competition from multiple parties.

Tony Fung’s representative Sally Williams was the underbidder while the Rosemont Stud-led Victorian Alliance also made a strong play for the colt bred by Sun Stud, the former custodians of Widden’s Victoria property.

Only two yearlings have realised a higher price at the Premier sale, namely Octane, the half-brother to Sunday’s A$675,000 Written Tycoon colt, and last year’s sale-topping $1.1m son of Written Tycoon.

“We’ve had a great run with Home Affairs, he is obviously red-hot right now having won the Lightning last week. We came here with the intention of buying the best colt we could find at the sale and, physically, he really stood out,” said Coolmore’s nominations and sales manager Colm Santry.

“He was a great mover for an I Am Invincible colt. We really liked him. The pedigree was good. We didn't think we had to go as far, but we did, and we are very glad we got him.”

Home Affairs’ trainer Chris Waller will take charge of the youngster.

“He was the standout colt and the colts syndicates had all done a lot of due diligence on this horse, so they do have that sort of firepower when they do team up on the star colts,” Widden principal Antony Thompson said.

“It was good to see him go to Coolmore, who seems to be really leading the charge in that department. Obviously this horse fits into a real sweet spot for them around Home Affairs, a horse they have got an enormous thrill out of buying for a similar number (A$875,000) who went on to win their own race, the Coolmore Stud Stakes.

“It was one of Tom Magnier’s finest days to win with a colt like that and I guess they see the similarities here with the way he’s bred and the way he looks, so it’s no surprise to see them go again.”

Catalogued as Lot 522, the colt is the fifth foal out of Group 3 winner Fine Bubbles, whilehe is also a brother to ATC Breeders’ Plate runner-up Covert Ops and the Melbourne juvenile winner Libiamo. The latter is in training with Will Clarken in Adelaide while the two-year-old out of Fine Bubbles, Talento, ran in the Kirkham Plate on her only race start last October.

“His full relation was a small foal and was retained by the breeders and is in Singapore at the moment,” Santry said.

“He was a very good horse early, ran second in the Breeders' Plate, just beaten by Dubious, so the mare can throw a horse.”

Coolmore’s colts syndicate also paid A$1.9m for the sale-topping I Am Invincible colt at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January after purchasing five colts by the same stallion in 2021.

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