Written by Paul Vettise
A three-stage plan to have Victorem (I Am Invincible) at peak for a Group 1 challenge will swing into action at Doomben where the consistent 5-year-old opens his autumn campaign.
He hasn’t been seen out since he rushed home for second in the Kosciuszko, but has a tidy fresh record and produced an eye-catching trial ahead of his return in Saturday’s G3 TAB BRC Sprint.
Due to the current travel restrictions, trainer Jenny Graham has sent Victorem to Barry Lockwood for the Eagle Farm conditioner to put the finishing touches on the sprinter and all indications have been positive.
Victorem finished third in a trial at Doomben last month and a trio of his rivals on that occasion have subsequently come out and won.
Watch: Victorem trial
“He pulled up well and Barry and I have been talking over the phone. I spoke with him on Thursday after the horse had done a little bit of work and he said he was at the top of his game,” Graham said.
“The horse did have a little bit of a hiccup with a foot problem, but in the last six weeks or so everything has gone to plan.”
“The horse did have a little bit of a hiccup with a foot problem, but in the last six weeks or so everything has gone to plan.” – Jenny Graham
Victorem is in Queensland for a crack at the G1 Stradbroke H, and safely through Saturday will have his final lead-up run in the G2 Victory S.
“Naturally, our main aim is the Stradbroke. He’s been a great horse for us and I’ve been very fortunate to have such an honest horse, he tries his best on all occasions and he’s very lightly-raced and done a great job,” Graham said.
Victorem has won seven of his 17 starts, including a brace of Listed events and a Group 3 placing, and has earned close to $1.2 million. That’s an impressive return on the $65,000 Graham parted with to buy him out of Symphony Lodge’s draft at the Magic Millions 2YO in Training Sale.
Victorem
“I actually trained his mother and she was a filly we had a few problems with and never reached her full potential and this bloke is a bit above his Mum. Each time we’ve asked him, he’s stepped up,” Graham said.
“He’s a little bit quirky, but when he’s on song he’s a nice horse to train and he wants to please most of the time.”
Victorem is a son of Playful Miss (Foreplay) and she won on four occasions up to 1300 metres with the feature names in the immediate pedigree the dual Group 1 winner Ball Park (NZ) (Ahonoora {GB}) and the G2 Yallambee Classic winner Danaba (Anabaa {USA}), who was also third in the G1 Goodwood H.
