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Magnier goes to $1.1m for I Am Invincible filly.
Segenhoe were toasting further success at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, when Coolmore Stud's Tom Magnier - fresh from spending $1.4 million on a colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) earlier in the day - continued his spending spree, forking out $1.1 million for a filly by the Yarraman Park sire.
Catalogued as Lot 368, the filly is a sister to Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Catch Me with the pair both being out of unraced O'Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare Captivating Claire.
Captivating Claire herself is a half-sister to Listed winner Ocean Jewel (Ocean Park) and the dam of Group 2 winner The Real Beel (Savabeel).
Meanwhile, the filly's third dam is Group 1 winner Marquise (Gold And Ivory) who also produced Group 1 winner Shower Of Roses (Zabeel), while she is also the grandam of dual Group 1 winner Hiyaam (High Chaparral).
Segenhoe Stud purchased Captivating Claire for NZ$420,000 at the 2012 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale and she has proved to be a very lucrative mare for the farm with four yearlings they have offered realising an astonishing $4,725,000.
In buying this filly Magnier delved back into a family he had spent money on before, having teamed up with Hermitage Thoroughbreds at last year's renewal of the Easter sale to purchase the yearling's brother for $1.4 million. The colt - now named Captivare - has trialled once for Chris Waller.
In the run up to the sale, O'Brien made no secret of how highly he rated this filly describing her as the best yearling he had had anything to do with and he was already confident she was a Group 1 winner in the making.
"I must say this filly was the best she has had, and that is saying something," said O'Brien. "I've gone on record in saying this filly is the best yearling I have ever had anything to do with, colt or filly. She was the best I've seen. I have never seen a yearling with a nostril on it like her.
"I was looking at a video of Vincent O'Brien describing a horse the other night and all I could think of was her with everything he was talking about. Coolmore bought her and I'm delighted.
"Obviously, she is going to get the best home, the best care and the best trainers. I just want to have a bet with someone that she will win a Group 1."
Having worked at Coolmore Stud for over 25 years, O'Brien knows better than anyone the firepower behind the operation and as such was pleased to see them purchase the filly.
"They bought the brother last year, so he must be showing them something I'd assume," said O'Brien.
"The lads have been out here to see her a couple of times, and when you've got James Bester, Michael Kirwan and Tom Magnier together, knowing what they like and knowing this filly, it was a match made in heaven."
O'Brien expressed his delight at the farm's results over the past two days and vehement in his admiration for Inglis' perseverance during this difficult period.
"We sold four out of five yesterday and I think we will sell every horse today [Wednesday]," said O'Brien. "So if you had said to me two weeks ago that we would go to the sale and sell 15 out of 16 and average what we have, I would have ran naked to Sydney and back.
"It would have been very easy of Inglis to have just lied down and they didn't. They fought the battles and it's all credit to them."
Magnier said O’Brien’s high opinion of the filly encouraged him to dig deep to secure her and believed she will not only make a good racehorse, but also be a good addition to Coolmore Stud’s future broodmare band.
“She’s a lovely filly. Segenhoe did a wonderful job,” said Magnier. “Peter O’Brien said to me many times that he thought she was one of the best fillies that he’s ever bred at his time at Segenhoe and when Peter O’Brien says something like that, we all take it very seriously.
“Again the team liked her a lot, she’s a lovely physical, she’s got the page and I think she’ll hopefully be a wonderful racehorse and quality broodmare.”
