Yarraman drop fee of stalwart I Am Invincible in a ‘thank you’ to long-time breeders
Yarraman Park Stud has trimmed the covering fee of elite stallion I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), with the three-time champion to stand the upcoming season at $220,000 (all fees inc. GST).
Returning the headline act to his 2021 perch is one of several pragmatic choices the stud has made with its 2025 fees, with the “economic climate” one of the factors underpinning the measured approach.
Despite having his fee reduced from $275,000, there has been no let up in I Am Invincible’s form. He is the sire of 117 stakes winners, including 17 who have struck at the highest level. His most recent Group 1 scorer arrived as recently as Saturday when Charm Stone made her top-flight breakthrough in the Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville.
The four-year-old filly is one of 13 Australian stakes winners sired by I Am Invincible during the 2024/25 campaign. Others include the unbeaten juvenile Vinrock, who was last seen taking out the Inglis Sires’ (Gr 1, 1400m). That banner success contributed to I Am Invincible leading the two-year-old sire standings by number of stakes winners (five).
Despite this current run of success, Yarraman Park director Harry Mitchell said it had always been the plan to trim I Am Invincible’s fee once he entered the autumn of his stallion career.
“He’s 20 now and we’re not chasing a huge number of bookings,” said Mitchell. “We just thought, being his age now, we’d bring his fee back a little bit. The same people use him pretty much every year, and to make him a little bit cheaper is, I think, more of a ‘thank you’ to them really as people have been very loyal. I don’t think it would’ve mattered what we stood him at though – obviously he’s had two Group 1 winners in the last couple of weeks so he’s having a pretty good season.”
Mitchell continued: “They did this with Snitzel when they dropped him for a couple of years, and we just thought we’d rather pick the mares we get a little bit, purely because of his age. We always thought we’d bring him back slightly, and maybe we shouldn’t have, but that’s the decision we’ve made and we’re going to stick to it.”
The son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) was reported to be in fine form during his autumn break, and is expected to cover a book of “around 130” mares later this year.
“His fertility has been good; he really hasn’t deviated much in the last ten years,” said Mitchell. “Everything else about him is great. He’s incredibly well, he’s like a 12-year-old. He’s a very happy, healthy horse.”
I Am Invincible has supplied six seven-figure yearlings in 2025, headed by the full-sister to champion three-year-old In Secret bought by the Laguna Partnership and John Sargent Racing for $2.3 million at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale in January.
His broodmare daughters are also beginning to exert their influence, both on the racetrack and in the sales ring. Another champion daughter, Imperatriz, became the most expensive broodmare prospect ever sold in Australia when knocked down to Zhijun Zhao for $6.6 million last May.
His impact as a broodmare sire is also being felt first-hand at his home in the Hunter Valley.
“We’re gathering his daughters slowly but we have quite a few,” said Mitchell. “We also have a few nice fillies that have retired and are in foal for the first or second time, and we have some nice fillies by him in training too. He’s started very well as a broodmare sire and some of his daughters from his lesser books have already thrown good horses. Kimochi is out of an I Am Invincible mare, so is Asfoora.”
Although I Am Invincible’s updated fee represents a 20 per cent year-on-year reduction, it is still an awfully long way from the $11,000 he started at back in 2010.
Mitchell joked that he would have “been going to the psychiatrists!” if he’d even contemplated having a horse who would stand nine consecutive seasons at a six-figure covering fee, adding: “We’ve been unbelievably lucky to get such a great stallion, there’s no doubt about that. He’s been a game-changer for a lot of people, including us.”
I Am Invincible is joined on the Yarraman roster by one of his Group 1-winning sons in Hellbent, whose fee is being held at $38,500 for the third consecutive season.
The 12-year-old is already the sire of 20 black type horses, including the Group 1 winners Benedetta and Magic Time, and Mitchell feels there is lots more to come once the progeny of his upgraded books come online.
Mitchell said that under different conditions the stud would have considered mirroring Hellbent’s upward trajectory in his covering fee. However, given the economic uncertainty beyond the racing bubble, holding his fee at its current level was deemed the fairest approach.
“Hellbent is doing a great job but, with the economic climate, we didn’t think it was the time to put him up,” he said.
“We certainly didn’t want to put him down because he’s got it all in front of him now; his books over the last two or three years are way better than his earlier books. We hopefully see him establishing himself as a top–ten sire going forward.”
Hellbent currently sits in 18th on the general sire standings among a tightly knit cluster that includes Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), Better Than Ready (More Than Ready), Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) and Dundeel (High Chaparral).
“He hasn’t had a lot of luck this year; Magic Time has been a bit unlucky, as has Benedetta,” Mitchell continued. “But he’s had a very good year with his two-year-olds, which is exciting for us. When he gets the right types of mares I think he’ll get some very good two-year-olds. He’s got some nice ones this year, that’s for us.”
The three-strong roster is completed by Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom), whose fee has been clipped in to $27,500 from $33,000. Despite only siring a relatively modest number of runners during his time at Aquis Farm, the Japanese-bred dual Group 1 winner has already come up with his first elite-level scorer in Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) victress Kimochi.
Brave Smash joined the Yarraman line-up in 2023, meaning his first yearlings conceived at his current home will come on stream at next year’s sales.
“We knew when we bought him that it was going to get tougher because he had very small books for three years, so it’s sort of a rejig for him,” said Mitchell.
“We’re very excited about what we’ve got to sell by him next year though, and the mares in foal to him. It’s a very good year for people to use him. We just thought, because of his lack of representation, we’d drop him just a little bit. He only covers 100 mares so there’s not a hell of a lot of nominations available in him.”
On the traits he has seen in Brave Smash’s homebred stock, Mitchell added: “He puts a very good hind quarter on them, good hocks. They’re lovely horses that are naturally strong. We’re very impressed with his stock and we’ve supported him very heavily, as have numerous of our partners in the horse, including Emirates Park, who have 14 mares in foal to him this year. He’s got a good little band of us who like him a lot. It’s going to be interesting to see how he progresses, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Talk of market unrest has never been far from the headlines throughout the most recent yearling sale season. However, now that the dust has begun to settle, Mitchell said he felt trade held up better than had been widely anticipated. It is hoped those positive results will roll on into the breeding season.
“I think the sales have held up remarkably well,” said Mitchell. “No doubt you need a good-quality horse, the market is quite discerning, but if you’ve got a nice horse then they’ll sell quite well. I think things have held up probably thanks to the prize-money and the health of our industry. It might be tougher next year because middle Australia is struggling a bit, but you’ve just got to have nice horses. It’s not easy, and that’s why people have dropped some fees because it’s harder for the smaller breeder.”
He added: “We haven’t done anything silly with our fees and they’re very solid, proven horses who have the upside in front of them, especially Hellbent and Brave Smash. You’re getting on the back of far better books of mares. It’s crucial that you get in the right spot with a horse, and it’s the right time to go to both of those young horses. There’s no doubt about it, they have got major upgrades in their books coming along.”