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Danehill, Snitzel…..and now I Am Invincible – they can share the plaudits as three champion stallions who have set special benchmarks for the Australian racing and breeding industry.

When the Anthony Cummings-trained Libertini won the Listed Woodlands Stakes at Scone on May 11 her sire I Am Invincible joined Danehill and Snitzel in a special history-making club.

Libertini was not only the Yarraman Park stallion’s 46th individual stakes winner but also provided him with his 27th stakes winner this season – a new Australian record.

The previous record of 26 stakes winners in a season was set by the late Danehill and later equalled twice by Snitzel in recent seasons.

I Am Invincible, a stallion who has risen from the shallow end of the sire pond to be a dominant leader, now holds that special place in Australian thoroughbred history and more than justifies his new status as the country’s most expensive stallion at stud.

Off the back of I Am Invincible’s incredible season his fee for 2019 has been increased to $247,500 (inc GST), a sum only surpassed in past years by the likes of Redoute’s Choice and Fastnet Rock.

“Danehill got to 26 once and Snitzel has done it twice, so to surpass it is very satisfying indeed,” said Yarraman Park’s Arthur Mitchell.

“Danehill was a complete breed changer and obviously Snitzel is another one too, so for I Am Invincible to actually beat them is a pretty good effort.”

“We weren’t expecting him to break this record this year, but he started off pretty hot so we knew he would have a good year. He just keeps going from strength to strength.”

I Am Invincible, a son of Invincible Spirit, had a varied and successful racing career under three trainers.

Bred and raced by the Gall family, he was trained by Toby Edmonds when he won his first race at Warwick Farm and then went to John, Michael and Wayne Hawkes before ending his career with Victorian trainer Peter Morgan.

He retired with G3 and Listed wins plus a G1 placings in the Goodwood Handicap among his record of five wins from 13 starts.

Yarraman Park secured him as a 5YO and have stood him in partnbership with Ray Gall and his family.

I Am invincible, a rising 15-year-old, has sired seven individual G1 winners and now has his own sons at stud including Brazen Beau and Hellbent.

His G1 winners include Brazen Beau, Viddora, Media Sensation, Oohood and Hellbent among his career tally of 391 winners in more than a dozen countries.

In his first season at stud in 2010 I Am Invincible covered 133 mares on a fee of $11,000 (inc GST).

In 2018 he covered 223 mares on a fee of $192,500 (inc GST).

“The crops he’s got on the track at the moment are from very humble stud fees,” Mitchell said.

“He has come a long way in a relatively short space of time.”

“Not all the mares he covered were stars, so it is quite an achievement.”