Rounsefell capitalises on Premier ‘opportunity’ to snare I Am Invincible colt
The Hong Kong Jockey Club was once again among the principal players acquiring new stock at this year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale, as their Australasian agent Craig Rounsefell of Boomer Bloodstock came away with three yearlings, including the auction’s equal-third highest-priced lot.
Indeed, for a long period of the opening day’s session on Sunday, the colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), who is out of a half-sister to Champions and Chater Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) runner-up Victory Magic (Savabeel), held top billing, as the Club went to $550,000 to secure the Lot 78-catalogued youngster.
Consigned by Yarraman Park, who co-bred the yearling with Magic Millions supremo Gerry Harvey and play home to Australia’s leading stallion I Am Invincible, the Hong Kong-bound colt was only usurped by a $675,000 Written Tycoon (Iglesia) colt late on day one and the standout $950,000 top lot colt by I Am Invincible on day two, who was purchased by the might of Coolmore.
Now in his third year in his role as agent for the HKJC, Rounsefell has targeted the Premier sale, buying three yearlings in 2020 and a further four a year ago, and believes the auction lends itself to the Club being able to secure the leading lots on offer.
“At the Magic Millions and Classic sale they are, generally, the more forward, two-year-old types and it’s harder to compete with the studs and the stallion groups that are targeting those,” Rounsefell told Asia Bloodstock News.
“Coupled with that, we’re looking for horses that are going to be at their best at three, four and five. Melbourne lends itself to the types of horses that people bring here that can be a later-maturing type.
“This colt is an October 30 foal, and looking at his pedigree and type, to my eye he didn’t look like a two-year-old, he looks like he’ll be at his best at three and older. That gave us an opportunity, being from a great family and a very good physical, that the stallion groups didn’t think he’d be an early two-year-old.”
The I Am Invincible colt was one of two yearling purchases at the sale for the HKJC out of a New Zealand-bred mare by Pins (Snippets), with this headline acquisition being the first foal produced by the Group 2 runner-up Mark Two.
The second was a final-day purchase by Zoustar (Northern Meteor) out of Group 3 winner Honey Rider (Pins).
“It’s not something we’re targeting (yearlings out of New Zealand mares),” Rounsefell said. “The families are high quality New Zealand families and it goes with the fact that these horses are a little bit later maturing.
“They’ve got the Australian speed stallion on top and good New Zealand families underneath, so it’s a good mix.”
The I Am Invincible colt boasts a family possessing several eye-catching pieces of Hong Kong form, most notably with Mark Two being a half-sister to Victory Magic, who finished runner-up to Werther (Tavistock) in the 2016 Hong Kong Derby (Listed, 2000m), beaten just a head after a gruelling duel which stretched for the best part of 300 metres in the straight.
Victory Magic then had to again settle for second, this time at Group 1 level in the Champions and Chater Cup, when in a thrilling three-way, bob-of-the-head finish the four-year-old on this occasion got the better of Werther, but succumbed to the older Blazing Speed (Dylan Thomas), a winner of the QEII Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) the previous year.
Further bolstering the family, Mark Two is also a sister to three-time Hong Kong winner Jade Pins, while Coach Maniac (Sir Tristram), a Hong Kong winner and third in the Queen Mother’s Cup (Listed, 2400m), also appears under the colt’s third dam – New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Zepherin (Zephyr Bay).
Yet, while Rounsefell said the presence of previous Hong Kong form in the family was an added bonus, it is not necessarily what the agent sets out to source.
“It’s one of the ingredients that’s part of the mix, but it’s not high up. It’s the physical of the horse, who the horse is by and the family,” Rounsefell said.
“These horses have to go through a very stringent veterinary procedure, so we’re only looking at the ones that are extremely clean in that aspect as well.”
Vying for sire premierships in his native Australia, I Am Invincible’s Hong Kong record of 21 winners (61 wins) from 35 starters is certainly admirable, and through the likes of Victory Marvel and Team Fortune, each a winner of five races, the stallion was propelled to a top ten finish in the 2017 sire standings from just ten horses to take to the track.
But since then I Am Invincible’s highest position in the sire standings is 15th, a place he currently occupies on this year’s list, and he has produced just the one headline performer in the city in the shape of star sprinter Wishful Thinker, a winner of the 2020 Premier Bowl Handicap (Gr 2, 1200m) who twice finished fourth at Group 1 level in the Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) and Centenary Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 1200m).
Rounsefell also came away with a colt by Magnus (Flying Spur), the sire of one of Hong Kong’s sprint stars this season, Sight Success, picked up for $300,000, while the colt by Zoustar was a final session buy from the Widden Stud draft for $340,000.
The colt by Zoustar, the sire of last season’s Hong Kong Classic Cup (Listed, 1800m) winner Healthy Happy, is the second foal out of Honey Rider , whose grandam Alpine Beauty (Khozaam) is the producer of three stakes winners, including Group 1 winner Adventador (Fast ‘N’ Famous).
“We’re looking at proven stallions that are sprinter, miler types and like fast ground. They’re really high on the hit list,” Rounsefell said.
“This colt (by Zoustar) is of a similar mould (to the I Am Invincible colt).”
Out of the three-time winning Bel Esprit (Royal Academy) mare Simbelation, herself a half-sister to dual Group 2 winner Cliff’s Edge (Canford Cliffs) as well as the stakes-placed Delago’s Lad (Delago Brom), the colt by Widden Victoria sire Magnus traces back to a Group 1-winning French family, headed by Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) heroine All Along (Targowice).
“Magnus is a really solid stallion. They’re very good sprinters that love fast ground,” Rounsefell said of Lot 235. “The colt himself I thought was spectacular with the visual. There were no real holes in him physically and he was a play that could fit into the group nicely at a really good price point.”
Amidst record yearling sales across all southern hemisphere auctions so far this year, soliciting yearlings has proven a difficult task for those on the buying side of the bloodstock coin, particularly with those who are looking to offer their purchases for resale, such with these bought by the HKJC, who will find themselves in the Hong Kong International Sale later this year.
The depth of the Inglis Premier sale market saw the average increase by 13 per cent to $158,094 while the Book 1 aggregate jumped by 21 per cent to $77.150 million. The median was also up 33 per cent to $140,000 and the clearance rate also steadily increased to 90 per cent last night.
“You’ve just got to stick to that proven quality and try and find your opportunity within the market,” Rounsefell said. “The market is obviously as strong as it’s ever been and particularly in Australia with these stallion syndicates. We’ve got to find these types that are high quality but better at a later age.
“There’s a number of horses that we get outbid on when we come up against these big operations, but it’s a long season and we’ve got our hitlist that we want to secure over a number of sales. It’s definitely not easy, but it’s great to see all round the world.”
The southern hemisphere yearling sales series quickly moves on to next week’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Premier Yearling Sale, in which the Hong Kong Jockey Club purchased three yearlings a year ago, headlined by a son of Savabeel (Zabeel) for $720,000.
Following an announcement on Monday by New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, entry into the country from Australia has recently been granted to New Zealand citizens, but while several Kiwi agents have darted across the Tasman, Australian Rounsefell will not be able to make the trip and will therefore solicit the help of Bruce Harvey of Ascot Farm.
“Bruce Harvey will be working with me throughout the whole process and hopefully we’ll be finding some value,” he said.
“The market is very strong and there’s still a lot of people throughout Australia and obviously New Zealand that haven’t bought this year or filled the numbers that they want.
“They’re horses that do well all round the world and especially in Asia, so we’ll be looking to pick some up.”