Yarraman Park Stud drop fee of stalwart I Am Invincible in a ‘thank you’ to long-time breeders

Yarraman Park Stud has trimmed the covering fee of brilliant stallion I Am Invincible, with the three-time champion to stand the upcoming season at A$220,000 (all fees inc. GST).

Returning the headline act to his 2021 perch is one of several pragmatic choices the stud has made with its 2025 fees, with the “economic climate” one of the factors underpinning the measured approach.

Despite having his fee reduced from A$275,000, there has been no let up in I Am Invincible’s form. He is the sire of 117 stakes winners, including 17 who have struck at the highest level. His most recent Group 1 scorer arrived as recently as Saturday when Charm Stone made her top-flight breakthrough in the Robert Sangster Stakes at Morphettville. 

The four-year-old filly is one of 13 Australian stakes winners sired by I Am Invincible during the 2024/25 campaign. Others include the unbeaten juvenile Vinrock, who was last seen taking out the Inglis Sires'. That banner success contributed to I Am Invincible leading the two-year-old sire standings by number of stakes winners (five). 

Despite this current run of success, Yarraman Park director Harry Mitchell said it had always been the plan to trim I Am Invincible’s fee once he entered the autumn of his stallion career. 

“He’s 20 now and we’re not chasing a huge number of bookings,” said Mitchell. “We just thought, being his age now, we’d bring his fee back a little bit. The same people use him pretty much every year, and to make him a little bit cheaper is, I think, more of a ‘thank you’ to them really as people have been very loyal. I don’t think it would’ve mattered what we stood him at though – obviously he’s had two Group 1 winners in the last couple of weeks so he’s having a pretty good season.” 

Mitchell continued: “They did this with Snitzel when they dropped him for a couple of years, and we just thought we’d rather pick the mares we get a little bit, purely because of his age. We always thought we’d bring him back slightly, and maybe we shouldn’t have, but that’s the decision we’ve made and we’re going to stick to it.” 

The son of Invincible Spirit was reported to be in fine form during his autumn break, and is expected to cover a book of “around 130” mares later this year. 

“His fertility has been good; he really hasn’t deviated much in the last ten years,” said Mitchell. “Everything else about him is great. He’s incredibly well, he’s like a 12-year-old. He’s a very happy, healthy horse.”

I Am Invincible has supplied six seven-figure yearlings in 2025, headed by the full-sister to champion three-year-old In Secret bought by the Laguna Partnership and John Sargent Racing for A$2.3 million at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale in January.

His broodmare daughters are also beginning to exert their influence, both on the racetrack and in the sales ring. Another champion daughter, Imperatriz, became the most expensive broodmare prospect ever sold in Australia when knocked down to Zhijun Zhao for A$6.6 million last May. 

His impact as a broodmare sire is also being felt first-hand at his home in the Hunter Valley. 

“We’re gathering his daughters slowly but we have quite a few,” said Mitchell. “We also have a few nice fillies that have retired and are in foal for the first or second time, and we have some nice fillies by him in training too. He’s started very well as a broodmare sire and some of his daughters from his lesser books have already thrown good horses. Kimochi is out of an I Am Invincible mare, so is Asfoora.” 

Although I Am Invincible’s updated fee represents a 20 per cent year-on-year reduction, it is still an awfully long way from the A$11,000 he started at back in 2010. 

Mitchell joked that he would have “been going to the psychiatrists!” if he’d even contemplated having a horse who would stand nine consecutive seasons at a six-figure covering fee, adding: “We’ve been unbelievably lucky to get such a great stallion, there’s no doubt about that. He’s been a game-changer for a lot of people, including us.” 

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