Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
On Sunday, 7-year-old racemare Asfoora (Flying Artie) achieved something incredible in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp, becoming the first Australian-bred horse to win a Group 1 in France. Aside from a phenomenal training achievement for her Henry Dwyer, it capped off a stupendous weekend for her broodmare sire I Am Invincible, who was also the broodmare sire of G3 Breeders’ Plate winner Incognito (Stay Inside).
Just to top it all off, the trifecta for the Breeders’ Plate had a very Vinnie connection, with the two placegetters - I’m Ya Huckleberry (Home Affairs) and Revengeance (Hellbent) - both being by sons of the stallion as well. Down in Victoria, the G2 Danehill Stakes winner McGaw added to the haul, being by I Am Invincible's son I Am Immortal.
Incognito becomes the 10th stakes winner for I Am Invincible as a broodmare sire, who has a further 10 stakes performers from 403 grandchildren on the track. It’s very good going from a stallion who started out at $11,000 inc GST and had to earn his way up to a six-figure fee.
It is an additional mark of his success that his service fee has only taken a step back in response to global economics, and not from any lack of performance or demand.
The best is yet to come as well; I Am Invincible finished last season in 20th spot in the broodmare sires’ premiership, and has already climbed to 18th this spring with the racing season barely underway.
A slow build into a sprint
There are only eight crops of foals from I Am Invincible’s daughters that are currently of racing age, and the first crop consisted of just six foals, three of whom made the track and yielded two winners of nine races. The first of these was Motakhayyel (Snitzel), who won two races in 2020 before export to Malaysia, and by the beginning of the 2021/22 racing season, I Am Invincible’s daughters had produced eight winners.
The number would jump to 26 by the end of the season, which included Asfoora, who also added her first stakes performance - and a first stakes-placing for I Am Invincible’s grandchildren - when running third in the G3 Kevin Hayes Stakes.
Asfoora | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
She would also be his first stakes winner as broodmare sire, winning the G2 Caulfield Sprint and the G3 Begonia Belle Stakes in the same calendar year. Swiftly following her in the autumn of 2023, Hip Hip Hurrah (Snitzel) claimed the Listed Woodlands Stakes at Scone.
I Am Invincible’s daughters have since produced Kimochi (Brave Smash {Jpn}), who retired to stud this year with the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes amongst three Group wins, and Grand Prairie (Written Tycoon), who won the G3 Up And Coming Stakes at the end of August. Last season, his juvenile crop of grandchildren included G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (colts & geldings) winner Field Of Play (Deep Field) and a further three stakes performers.
By the beginning of this week, I Am Invincible’s daughters have produced 225 individual winners, from 1000 metres to 2200 metres and in 11 countries.
“He’s (I Am Invincible) very much like Danehill to a certain degree.” - Tim Jackson
“He’s doing amazingly well for such an early stage in his career,” said Yarraman Park Stud’s Arthur Mitchell. “Those first crops would have been out of fairly basic mares as well.”
The sentiment is echoed by Tim Jackson, stud manager for Asfoora’s owner-breeders Noor Elaine Farm; “He’s very much like Danehill to a certain degree - he’s a tremendous sire of broodmares, racehorses, stallions, he gets them all.”
Still early days
“All the great stallions have to make it on their own,” Mitchell said, harking back to his comment on the quality in his stallion's early books. “Into Mischief, Written Tycoon, they’ve all done it. I Am Invincible has too.”
I Am Invincible | Standing at Yarraman Park Stud
And it is pertinent to remember that it is just early days for I Am Invincible, especially when placing him beside the horses considered to be the greats. At the same stage in his career, Redoute’s Choice - who debuted at $30,000 inc GST and never looked back - had 161 winners from his daughters and 21 stakes winners, but only one Group 1 winner in Sacred Falls (NZ).
Fastnet Rock - whose debut fee was $55,000 inc GST - had 407 winners from eight much larger Southern Hemisphere-bred crops of grandchildren and 27 stakes winners, but only three Group 1 winners. Not A Single Doubt, who stood at $13,750 inc GST for his first six seasons, had nine.
The late Fastnet Rock | Image courtesy of Coolmore
The first of I Am Invincible’s three Champion Sire titles came at the end of the 2021/22 racing season, and, judging by the performance of other champions, it is only a matter of time before his efforts as a broodmare sire are recognised in the premierships as well.
The last of Danehill’s (USA) nine Champion Sire titles came in 2004/05 and just a few short years later in the 2010/11 season, he topped the broodmare sire premiership, edging out Snippets. As he had done for the sires’ premiership, he tussled with Zabeel (NZ) for top spot over the near five years until Encosta De Lago, who had been Champion Sire in 2007-09, dethroned them both.
Redoute’s Choice took up the mantle next, 12 years after he had his first Champion Sire title at the end of his father Danehill’s reign, and held the lead until Encosta De Lago’s return to the top in 2021/22. Over a decade since his Champion Sire title in 2010/11, Lonhro briefly held the top spot the following year, before giving way to Fastnet Rock, who had followed him in the general sires’ tables.
The late Redoute’s Choice | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Exceed And Excel, Street Cry, Snitzel, and Written Tycoon are all due a turn on the throne before I Am Invincible, but if the pattern is followed, his recognition should come within the decade.
Bloodstock agent Bruce Perry, who was active at the broodmare sales this year on behalf of his stud clients, was of the opinion that things were just beginning.
“I think his statistics will change over time, and you will start seeing stakes winners (from his daughters) coming out of the system here (in New Zealand) that are winning over a mile or more,” he said. “I have no doubt about that.”
Mares in demand
Ten of I Am Invincible’s daughters were offered at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale this year, where nine sold for an average price of $1.23 million. The well-performed race fillies were in hot demand; Tom Magnier went to $2.8 million each to secure multiple Group winners Estriella and Tiz Invincible, while Arrowfield Stud took home the 11-time winner I Am Me with a $2 million price tag.
Arthur Mitchell | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“You see what people pay for these nice fillies now, even the not so well performed ones,” said Mitchell. “You can hardly buy them, they’re too expensive. If they’re good racehorses, you’re going to have to pay an arm and a leg.”
“If they’re (daughters of I Am Invincible) good racehorses, you’re going to have to pay an arm and a leg.” - Arthur Mitchell
Eureka Stud’s Harry McAlpine, who is also one half of Incognito’s breeders Black Soil Bloodstock, was also present at the Chairman’s sale and went to $270,000 to secure another daughter of I Am Invincible in Amoursirra, offered by Lime Country Thoroughbreds. The now 5-year-old is a full sister to Listed Redelva Stakes winner Muntaseera.
Amoursirra | Image courtesy of Inglis
While the sire isn’t the only factor considered when looking at the buying sheet, it certainly helps McAlpine to see one that typically promises good results - although that also can drive the price up.
“Vinnies are obviously incredibly good looking, so you've got to pay a bit of money for them,” he said. “He’s obviously just jampacked with so much quality, and having such depth and strength overall, you know you’re breeding from something that's genetically quite sound, and that gives you a bit of confidence.”
Black Soil Bloodstock invested in Incognito's dam Bleu Zebra (I Am Invincible) as a yearling, and have reaped the rewards at stud, with her first three foals selling for over $1.4 million combined.
“You're trying to breed a racehorse, and you're trying to breed a good looking racehorse as well, but it can be difficult to get both,” McAlpine continued. “But Vinnie ticks both those boxes probably better than most.”
“You're trying to breed a good looking racehorse as well ... Vinnie ticks both those boxes probably better than most.” - Harry McAlpine
Perry signed the docket for two I Am Invincible mares at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale earlier this year; Vinho Verde, a close relation to Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) in foal to his sire, was purchased with Little Avondale Stud for $170,000 and Angry Bet, a half-sister to G1 South Australian Derby winner Leicester (Wanted), was bought with Jamieson Park for $140,000.
Angry Bet | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Spotting I Am Invincible in the sire column is a big green tick over a mare for Perry’s clients.
“Physically, he (I Am Invincible) is obviously such a great type,” Perry said. “These great types tend to leave very correct horses. Good shoulders, good hindquarters, great legs. If you are going to breed horses, those are traits you want to try and pass on in this commercial world.
“You’re trying to breed an athlete, so he’s (I Am Invincible) very good for our horses.” - Bruce Perry
“Plus, they can run, and they also compliment a lot of our New Zealand stallions, bringing a bit more speed and muscle. You’re trying to breed an athlete, so he’s very good for our horses.”
A versatile pedigree
One of the keys to I Am Invincible’s continued success seems to be his versatility; his daughters’ 20 stakes performers come from 16 individual stallions from nine sire lines. While he certainly has an affinity for descendants of Danehill, he also has had plenty of success with Sadler’s Wells (USA) and Encosta De Lago.
While the nicks are still small, descendants of Sadler’s Wells - of which Flying Artie is one - over I Am Invincible mares have yielded six winners from 14 to the track, including Asfoora and R. Listed Inglis Nursery-placed Sequista (D’Argento), who was also fourth in the G2 Percy Sykes Stakes last season.
Flying Artie | Standing at Blue Gum Farm
There are 78 winners bred on the cross of Danehill’s descendants over I Am Invincible mares, accounting for four of I Am Invincible’s stakes winners as a broodmare sire. Snitzel - who has been there from the start - as sire accounts for nine of the number, and several of his sons have contributed to the stallion’s haul.
Zoustar has an even better strike rate, with 10 winners from 14 runners out of I Am Invincible mares, although his fellow Northern Meteor descendant Deep Field has the higher performers, with his eight winners including Field Of Play and his top Hong Kong earner Adefill, who has amassed HK$9.1 million (AU$1.77 million) in stakes.
To have I Am Invincible’s first stakes winner as a broodmare sire still actively racing - and notching another Group 1, halfway around the world - can only bode well for the crops yet to come. Asfoora's dam Golden Child is from just his second crop of foals, and Asfoora is a product of the third crop from his daughters.
The result certainly doesn’t surprise Mitchell. He is a Champion Sire for a reason, and the Champion Broodmare Sire title could well be in his future.
“From our point of view, we can't have enough of them (I Am Invincible mares).” - Bruce Perry
“He’s very good looking, he throws a lot of speed, they all have very good temperaments,” Mitchell said. “Once he started producing offspring with very well-bred mares, it took off.”
“He's certainly starting to do a wonderful job, he really is,” Perry said. “So from our point of view, we can't have enough of them. I walk around the paddocks of my clients and they all have a number of Vinnie mares, and looking at the progeny they’re leaving, it’s quite exciting.”
