Pedigree Insights: Invincible Spirit

The phrase “It's all in the genes” is often put forward as an explanation for longevity and it certainly seems to apply to Invincible Spirit, who was born as long ago as Feb. 17, 1997.

His sire Green Desert was 26 when his last group winner was conceived and was 32 when he was euthanized in 2015. Green Desert in turn was a son of Danzig, who was 26 when his last Group 1 winners, Hard Spun and Astronomer Royal, were conceived. Danzig also sired a couple of Group 3 winners a year later. The sequence continues with Danzig's sire Northern Dancer who was 25 when–to use a biblical verb–he begat his last group winners.

And it isn't just Invincible Spirit's male line which, in the words of Mr. Spock, lived long and prospered. His dam, the G1 Prix de Diane winner Rafha, was covered for the final time at the age of 24, having produced the last of her 15 foals, a Galileo filly, at 22. Rafha's dam Eljazzi was 23 when she gave birth to the last of her 16 foals. For good measure, Rafha's sire Kris was 25 when his final group winner was conceived (the last two Group 1 winners by Kris's brother Diesis were sired when he was 24 and 25).

Judging by all the above, breeders can have plenty of confidence in Invincible Spirit as he approaches his 17th season at the age of 22 next year.

However, there had been some worrying signs that he wasn't immune to the syndrome whereby ageing stallions start to fall out of favour (something I think of as the boredom factor). His 2018 results at the European yearling sales have been comparatively disappointing, with an average of 206,057gns and median of 160,000gns off a fee of €120,000. His previous three crops had all achieved better figures, even though they were sired at lower fees. His 2015 yearlings, sired at €65,000, averaged 256,917gns; the 2016 vintage, sired at €70,000, averaged 247,580gns; and his 2017 yearlings, sired at €100,000, achieved the very pleasing average of 284,324gns.

No doubt the 2018 figures would have been better had the weekend's Group 1 successes of Magna Grecia and Royal Meeting come a month or two earlier. As it was, Invincible Spirit entered the sales period with just one 2018 Group 1 winner to his credit, namely the Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar, who has failed to add to his reputation since his defeat of Sands of Mali at Royal Ascot.

With Magna Grecia coming out on top in a tight finish to the Vertem Futurity Trophy and Royal Meeting accounting for the filly Hermosa in the Criterium International, Invincible Spirit now has a Northern Hemisphere total to 17 Group 1 winners. Not bad going for a stallion who spent his first four seasons at only €10,000. The fact that his fee had risen tenfold by the 2015 season tells its own story, but I could add that the jump from €70,000 in 2014 to €100,000 in 2015 was fuelled by a terrific season in 2014, when he finished runner-up to Galileo on the leading sires' table.

The stars of the 2014 show were those top-class milers Kingman and Charm Spirit, who jointly landed seven of the year's Group 1 mile races. These two are now showing plenty of promise as stallions, with each of them siring 20 or more first-crop winners. As Nick Luck said on Racing UK after Nausha had become Kingman's 20th winner at Newbury, “these Kingmans really have something about them.” They include Persian King, whose defeat of Magna Grecia, Circus Maximus and Western Australia was boosted by these three colts' fine efforts in the Futurity.

Kingman and Charm Spirit are still Invincible Spirit's leading sons by Racing Post ratings, but there are several other well-qualified young stallion sons waiting in the wings for their chance to shine, including the Group 1 winners Shalaa, Territories, Profitable and National Defense and the Group 2 winners Ajaya and Cable Bay. Invincible Spirit therefore looks destined to become a noted sire of sires.

Coolmore and Godolphin must also be looking forward to the time when they can add Magna Grecia and Royal Meeting to their respective stallion rosters.

Coolmore's delight at having a Group 1-winning son of Invincible Spirit must be tempered a little by the fact that he is out of a Galileo mare, which stops him being an outcross for so many mares belonging to Coolmore's clientele. Even with that drawback, Coolmore was happy to pay 340,00gns for Magna Grecia as a foal, which made him the fourth-highest colt at the December Foal Sale.

Invincible Spirit has been one of the most popular options for Galileo's broodmare daughters and there are now 50 foals of racing age bred this way. For a while the results didn't look too encouraging, but the 2018 season has seen a distinct turn for the better. In addition to Magna Grecia, it has been represented by the dual German Group 2 winner Ancient Spirit and the listed winners Emmaus and Baby Pink. There may be more to come, as a dozen of the 50 are 2-year-olds. There are also around 10 yearlings bred this way, one of which sold for 600,000gns.

Of the other good winners representing the Invincible Spirit–Galileo nick, only one–the Irish filly Baby Pink–has so far enjoyed stakes success beyond a mile. Baby Pink won over a mile and a half, so is it possible that Magna Grecia will eventually stay a mile and a quarter? Aidan O'Brien seemed to rule out the possibility. O'Brien also trained the colt's dam Cabaret and he campaigned her over middle distances as a 3-year-old. Unfortunately, Cabaret never reproduced the form which had brought her success in the G3 Silver Flash S. over seven furlongs as a 2-year-old.

Cabaret's dam Witch of Fife had a similar record, failing to match her fairly useful 2-year-old form when tried at up to 1 3/4 miles at three. For the record, Cabaret was one of three talented juveniles produced by Witch of Fife, the others being the G3 Solario S. winner Drumfire (by Danehill Dancer) and the G2 Gimcrack S. second Ho Choi (by Pivotal).

It is easy to understand why the connections of Cabaret and Witch of Fife expected them to stay pretty well. Witch of Fife's dam Fife was a half-sister to El Conquistador, runner-up in the G3 Goodwood Cup over 21 furlongs. When El Conquistador's sister Piffle was mated to the seven-furlong specialist Efisio the outcome was Pearly Shells, winner of the G1 Prix Vermeille over a mile and a half.

Fife's second dam Fiddle Faddle was a half-sister to Mountain Lodge, a G1 Irish St Leger winner who bred the Gold Cup third Compton Ace. The stamina continues through the generations, with the next dam, the Park Hill S. third Fiddlededee, being a half-sister to the Park Hill S. winner Collyria and to Visor, dam of the Goodwood Cup winner Raise You Ten.

Trace the female line back to Magna Grecia's seventh dam and you come to All Moonshine, dam of the champion sire Mossborough and third dam of Sir Tristram, while the next dam is the legendary Selene, dam of Hyperion, Sickle, Pharamond and Hunter's Moon.

There isn't as much stamina in the bottom half of Royal Meeting's pedigree. His dam Rock Opera was very successful as a 2-year-old in South Africa in 2005, when she won a Grade 1 and a Grade 2 over six furlongs to earn herself a transfer to the UAE.

Although generally disappointing in her new base, where she was third in the UAE 1000 Guineas, Rock Opera has made full amends as a broodmare. Mated to Exceed And Excel she produced Heavy Metal, a G2 Richmond S. winner who has gone on to plunder several rich prizes on dirt in the UAE.

Royal Meeting's broodmare sire, Lecture, was nothing out of the ordinary in his native USA, where he won four sprints on dirt during a 31-race career. However, this son of Seeking the Gold was very well connected, as his dam Narrate also produced Preach, the Grade I-winning 2-year-old who produced the high-class stallion Pulpit (sire of champion sire Tapit). Another of Narrate's Mr. Prospector fillies, Yarn, became the dam of the talented stallion Tale of the Cat and Yarn's descendants also include the top 2-year-olds Minardi and Johannesburg, the latter sire of Scat Daddy. With a son of Mr. Prospector as his sire, Lecture was bred along similar lines to Preach and Yarn.