Vinery Stud kicked off a frenetic first-hour of trade at the Magic Millions National Sale on Sunday with an I Am Invincible filly foal (Lot 3) that made $200,000 to the bid of NZ-based buyer Adrian Stanley.
Stanley operates Woburn Farm in the heart of Waikato horse country between Cambridge and Hamilton and he rates the I Am Invincible filly very highly after seeing her parade outside Stable H on the Gold Coast sale-grounds.
“She’s a lovely-bodied filly – probable the best in the complex,” he claimed. “Vinnie is a no-brainer and we will bring her back for one of the yearling sales in 2025.”
Her dam Ahbelle (Old Deutronomy) has black-type close-up as a half-sister to the I Am Invincible black-type winner Santos (ATC Skyline Stakes Gr.2) and Fastnet Rock’s Japanese sprinter Melagrana (Nakayama Ocean Stakes (Gr.3).
Meanwhile, Stanley is confident the $220,000 he paid for an Exceed and Excel colt from Vinery (as agent) at last year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale is about the pay dividends with trainer Tony Pike who owns him in a partnership that includes Ben Foote and Stanley.
Now named Vortex Bay, he won an Avondale trial over 800m in style last month. He led all the way for Kozzi Asano and found again when tackled by Casemiro (Contributer) close to home. “We pin-hooked him for the NZ 2YO Sale in November but decided to keep him,” Stanley said. “Hopefully, he’s good enough to go to Hong Kong.”
Sunday’s opening session of the marathon sale also saw a weanling colt from the second crop of Vinery sire Ole Kirk change hands for $140,000 to Silverdale Lodge. Catalogued as Lot 2 he, if anything, appeared slightly underdone but is bred to get along being the second foal from Perth Stakes-winning juvenile Agent Pippa (Demerit).
“There’s still improvement to come,” Silverdale’s Rob Petith said. “He’s a nice shape and the Ole Kirks are looking good. Some of the vendors were riding high in the irons with their reserves but this one was priced right.”
His dam Agent Pippa was a flyer from the outset, winning on debut as a November 2yo at Ascot and training on to claim the G3 Gimcrack Stakes (1100m) before transferring to Kris Lees to win sprints at Randwick and Rosehill.
Vinery finished second on the Day 1 Magic Millions vendor leaderboard with three sales at an average of $150,000. Its other graduates were a $130,000 Toronado (Ire) colt to Red Bloodstock and a $120,000 Wootten Bassett (GB) colt to Hawkes Racing.
