'The best filly in the sale today' - A$2.3 million sister to top-class In Secret headlines day two of Magic Millions

A sister to dual Group 1-winning mare In Secret produced fireworks during the second session of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on Wednesday, when she was bought by Randwick-based trainer John Sargent and owner Ian Moses for A$2.3 million (£1.15m/€1.38m) under the Laguna Partnership banner.

The filly became the most expensive lot to sell at the sale this year – eclipsing the A$1.8m Resolute Racing’s John Stewart paid for the filly out of Away Game during Tuesday’s opening session – and was just A$300,000 short of the Magic Millions record price for a filly, which was set in 2023 by Sunlight’s sister, the Coolmore-owned Listed winner Clean Energy.  

Moses and Sargent were forced to fight off fierce competition from Chris Waller and his bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster. After a prolonged bidding battle, they held firm and eventually the gavel fell in their favour. 

Sargent said: “I’ve been training for Ian, a fellow Kiwi, for a long time and he’s now building a broodmare band. You’ve got to buy the best and I think this was the best filly in the sale today." 

Bred by Segenhoe in conjunction with Michael Christian of Longwood Thoroughbreds, the I Am Invincible filly is out of Eloping, whose progeny offered at public auction have now grossed more than A$5m, with Godolphin’s Coolmore Stud Stakes winner In Secret, who herself was bought at the same sale for A$900,000, the most high-profile of her produce.

Sargent said: “She probably has a bit more size than In Secret but a similar temperament, and to buy a full-sister to a Coolmoore winner is very hard to get. It's a good investment in the long run and hopefully we can get some black type for her."

Moses, who sold his US-headquartered global animal grooming franchise, Aussie Pet Mobile, in late 2021, and retired to Byron Bay on the New South Wales north coast, said he was focusing on building a high-quality broodmare band, which he keeps at Coolmore. 

“She was the dominant filly with a great temperament,” he said. “I realised that if you want to be in this business at the top end, you’ve got to put in the investment.

“The long-term strategy is to have at least ten high-quality broodmares stationed at Coolmore and I’m almost up to ten now on the track and at the stud farm.”

Segenhoe’s general manager Peter O’Brien was candid in his assessment of the result, admitting he thought the filly would make far less than the amount she realised. 

“I thought she’d make between A$700,000 and A$1 million, in and around there, so it was an incredible surprise,” said O’Brien. 

“Ian Moses actually grew up 200 metres from our farm [Segenhoe]. He’s a lovely man who has been looking at her every day and I’m just delighted for him because he was obviously very keen to buy her.”

At the sale last year, Damon Gabbedy of Belmont Bloodstock, working on behalf of B2B Thoroughbreds, bought another sister to In Secret for A$1.15m and she is now in training with Ciaron Maher. The filly finished fourth in a hot trial at Warwick Farm on January 3 and her trainer rates her as one of his very best juveniles. 

O'Brien said: “The mare’s thrown a champion by ‘Vinnie’, she’s a full-sister to In Secret, the two-year-old with Ciaron Maher, who's a full-sister again, thinks she’s his best two-year-old called Kerber, who trialled brilliantly last week. She’s heading for the [Golden] Slipper. 

The I Am Invincible sister to In Secret during her A$2.3 million sale at Magic MillionsCredit: Magic Millions

“I think everybody saw her trial last week, so we know the mare is not a one-hit wonder.

“We’ve got a beautiful brother to sell next year and unfortunately she missed to Vinnie, but she’ll be going back to him. She’s married to him.”

O’Brien said that many breeders are keeping their best fillies to race, so entities such as this filly coming to market are rare, adding to her value. 

“A lot of the big breeders are keeping the best fillies, so there’s very few truly elite fillies with pedigrees like that that come to market now,” he said. 

“The mares are getting hard to buy so breeders are keeping some of their best fillies to race.

“She was unique in so far as she had the looks, the pedigree and I think her sister trialling last week was a big help.”

With having such a famous sister, comparisons are inevitable but O’Brien said they were quite different types. 

The I Am Invincible sister to In Secret topped the second day of Magic Millions at A$2.3 millionCredit: Magic Millions

He said: “They’re both beautiful. In Secret, I would describe her as a yearling as more of a European type, she was beautiful but elegant. She wasn’t a filly with a lot of substance.

“This filly is like Mike Tyson on steroids. She has a massive hip, huge forearms and looks a real sprinter.”

Co-breeder Christian was thrilled with the final result. 

He said: “She’s a beautiful filly. When you’re selling – and full credit to Segenhoe – and once you get around that million mark you’ve got to get lucky because there’s only one player.

“When you get to that stratosphere and you’ve got players, then you can get that sort of money.

“The two-year-old we sold here last year, she trialled-up sensationally recently behind the boom Coolmore Wootton Bassett colt [Wodeton] at Warwick Farm during the week. Ciaron [Maher] has a very high opinion of her and this filly was outstanding.

“The mare has done an incredible job. In Secret was a superstar and without sounding too greedy, it was unfortunate for Godolphin that she didn’t train on and run in The Everest. She would have been a formidable opponent.”

The good results didn’t stop there for Christian. Later on in the day he sold, under his Longwood Thoroughbred banner, the brother to impressive juvenile winner Space Rider out of his homebred mare Fuddle Dee Duddle to China Horse Club/Newgate Bloodstock and Partners for A$675,000. 

I Am Invincible enjoyed an incredible day and he heads into day three with his 16 yearlings at the sale having sold at an average of A$739,688 for an aggregate A$11,835,000. 

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