The Ready to Run Sale’s previous record price of $825,000 was blown out of the water at Karaka on Wednesday as Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis went to $1,650,000 to secure an I Am Invincible colt with a special connection to the stable.
The standout colt was offered by Kiltannon Stables as Lot 174 and fetched the highest price ever paid for a two-year-old at a public auction in the southern hemisphere.
He is out of the Savabeel mare Shillelagh, who was trained by Te Akau’s former trainer Jamie Richards to win four races from six New Zealand starts for owner-breeders Christopher and Susanna Grace. Shillelagh later crossed the Tasman and joined the stable of Chris Waller, for whom she won the Gr.1 Cantala Stakes (1600m) and Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m).
Shillelagh has made a promising start at stud with her first foal to race, the I Am Invincible filly Irish Legacy, placing in the Gr.3 Mufhasa Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie in the Grace colours earlier this year.
Wednesday’s sale-topping I Am Invincible colt was originally offered in Sydney as a yearling in April, where he failed to meet his A$420,000 reserve. It was a very different story when he graced the Karaka sale ring seven months later.
The crowd swelled significantly ahead of the striking youngster’s arrival, and after starting at $200,000, bids were quickly being fired in from three corners of the auditorium.
Ellis appeared to be on the back foot on multiple occasions over a tense next few minutes, but he summoned another couple of $50,000 bids late in the piece to secure the prized colt.
“The fact that we trained Shillelagh for Christopher and Susanna Grace makes this quite special for Te Akau, but the simple fact is that I thought he was easily the nicest colt I’ve ever seen at the Ready to Run Sale,” Ellis said.
“I was on the toe the whole time he was in the ring, because I really wanted to take this horse home. At one stage my wife Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) said to me, ‘If you really, really like this colt, don’t be beaten.’ That gave me the confidence to put in those last couple of bids.
“I saw the colt when he was in Sydney as a yearling, but things weren’t quite 100 per cent with him at that stage. They took him home and turned him out, and he’s just gone to the next level since then.”
Ellis has enormous regard for I Am Invincible, who sired the stable’s 10-time Group One winner Imperatriz and Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) winner Move To Strike.
“He’s one of the very best stallions we’ve got in this part of the world,” Ellis said. “We’ve obviously had the likes of Imperatriz and Move To Strike in our stable, so he’s a sire that works so well for Te Akau.
“Harry and Bill Mitchell, who stand I Am Invincible at Yarraman Park, said to me that this is as nice an I Am Invincible colt as they’ve seen, and they’re going to be taking a share.”
The colt’s appeal grew even higher in last month’s breeze-ups at Te Rapa, where he made an enormous impression and clocked the catalogue’s best time of 9.97 seconds.
“The breeze-ups are Mark Walker’s area of expertise, he’s an absolute genius,” Ellis said. “He said he hasn’t seen a two-year-old work the way he did for a long time.
“Christopher and Susanna Grace are among the best breeders in New Zealand, they’ve been breeding such top-quality horses for a number of years and their results speak for themselves. All of us at Te Akau Racing are just honoured to be taking this magnificent colt home.
“He’s likely to enter our system here in New Zealand, where he might be set for something like the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes, and then he could join our Australian stable further down the track.”