Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
The midweek meeting at Sydney on Wednesday was somewhat overshadowed by Grafton’s black-type card, but Randwick nevertheless hosted a substantial raceday on the Kensington surface, with the 2-year-old event of particular interest.
The Harry Angel at Darley Plate, a 1150 metre scamper for the juveniles, had an 11-horse field, headed by equal favourites King Of Sparta (I Am Invincible) and Military Expert (Redoute’s Choice). And that’s exactly how they came home, with the pair fighting out the finish, 3.9l ahead of third-placegetter Lucky Sun (Maurice {Jpn}).
Just a nose separated King Of Sparta’s win from Military Expert, the latter having his first racecourse appearance for trainer Annabel Neasham.
King Of Sparta, on the other hand, was vastly more experienced in the Newgate-China Horse Club colours. Recently gelded, the youngster was having his fifth race for the Snowden team and, off the back of two recent trial wins, Wednesday’s race proved King Of Sparta’s debut win.
It was also a nice result for his owners, who have waited patiently for the horse to hit the winner's circle.
China Horse Club and Newgate Bloodstock, in partnership with Starlight Racing, paid $700,000 for King Of Sparta as a yearling at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Good types, good legs
King Of Sparta is the fourth foal from the Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) mare Octavia. She was a very good racemare herself, winning the G3 WW Cockram S. and Listed Kevin Hayes S. in 2013.
Three of her foals have been winners, while her dam, Filming (Brocco {USA}), is a half-sister to South African stakes winner Sweet Sheila (Kenmare {Fr}), who in turn produced a pair of Group 1 winners in Zirconeum (SAF) (Jallad {USA}) and Stellite (SAF) (Fard {Ire}).
King Of Sparta as a yearling
Octavia was trained through her 21-start career by Michael Moroney, who purchased her for just $42,000 from Newgate Farm at the 2011 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. Her first two foals, both by I Am Invincible and full siblings to King Of Sparta, sold for $200,000 and $625,000 respectively.
She is now owned by Yarraman Park in partnership with Hilton Cope.
“Octavia was a pretty good racemare,” said Arthur Mitchell, director of Yarraman Park. “She throws good sorts, and I Am Invincible tends to throw pretty good types with good legs. The first foal out of her was quite a smart horse, but this horse (King Of Sparta) was a much better type. He was bigger. First foals can do that.”
"Octavia was a pretty good racemare. She throws good sorts, and I Am Invincible tends to throw pretty good types with good legs." - Arthur Mitchell
Octavia has a weanling filly by Zoustar on the ground at Yarraman, which Mitchell said will head to Magic Millions' January Sale. The mare will foal to I Am Invincible in the spring, one of about 140 foaling mares on the property.
“She’s had a few little issues,” the studmaster said. “She picked up something very strange and spent a bit of time in the veterinary hospital. It wasn’t colic, but it was some form of gut infection, and it’s taken a lot of sorting out. She’s back on-farm now, but only with restricted access, so we’re molly-coddling her until she gets over it.”
Octavia when racing
The 200 Club
King Of Sparta brought up I Am Invincible’s 197th individual winner this season, a figure that is very likely to tip over 200 with three weeks of the season still to go.
“In I Am Invincible’s case, it’s another string to his bow,” Mitchell said. “But it does mean they (the progeny) are basically all very sound horses that get to the races. To have that many individual winners means they are getting to the races, and they’re winning.”
I Am Invincible had a treble at Randwick on the day with 3-year-old fillies Skedaddle and Rosa Moyessi also winning, while he also had Barragunda win at Sandown. That trio were all previous winners this season.
The stallion will cover between 170 and 180 mares this season, with Mitchell adding that those figures were enough to keep the horse busy.
“We’ve cut his numbers back a little,” the studmaster said. “But his book is pretty packed already.”
And with good reason.
I Am Invincible is in the rarest of air right now, siring more individual seasonal winners than any sire before him. He leads the table by wins too, and is currently third on the Australian General Sires’ Table by earnings (behind Written Tycoon and Not A Single Doubt).
Destined for bigger things
King Of Sparta’s win at the Kensington meeting was full of merit.
After jumping from barrier four with jockey Regan Bayliss, the 2-year-old gelding took a handy position throughout and galloped down the centre of the straight in the closing stages.
He was tackled gallantly by Military Expert, and it turned into a two-horse race through the final furlongs before the gelding just got the better of the colt.
"The first and second horses (King Of Sparta and Military Expert) can be destined for bigger things, and as far as our bloke is concerned, it’s for sure." - Paul Snowden
“The first and second horses can be destined for bigger things, and as far as our bloke is concerned, it’s for sure,” said co-trainer Paul Snowden. “It’s always hard to loom up and put a field away on this track. It just seems to be quite difficult at times, and he always looked like he was going to win the race, but he just got there.”
Snowden said King Of Sparta was headed to the spring herein.
“Those early races, even in Melbourne, come up pretty quick now for these types of horses, so we’ll just sit back and take stock,” the trainer said. “I know he’ll pull up well because he was pretty forward today, so there’s no issue there. It’s just a matter of placing him in the right races now.”
Both King Of Sparta and Military Expert were the two most expensive juveniles in the race.
Military Expert is a $1.1 million graduate of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, the second foal from the unraced GSA Bloodstock mare Gresset (Hussonet {USA}), whose second dam, Darazina (Fr) (Labus {Fr}), has a glittering pedigree of European stakes winners behind her.
Military Expert as a yearling
