Mark Newnham reached a significant milestone on Saturday at Sha Tin as leading Four-Year-Old Classic Series prospect, Invincible Ibis took another step towards the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) – the opening leg of the three race series on February 1.
Newnham paid $425,000 at the 2023 NZB Ready to Run Sale to secure the promising Hellbent gelding and Invincible Ibis has proven to be a great investment.
With two wins and three placings from his previous five starts, Invincible Ibis was well fancied for the Class Three event over 1600m with Zac Purton to ride and scored a commanding win.
Invincible Ibis powered clear to win by one and three quarter lengths in 1m 34.97s and is yet to miss a place in six starts.
“It’s good to get the 100 out of the way. We’ve been stuck on 99 – I felt like a bad cricketer. It was going to come; I’m just pleased it came with this horse in this race. He’s a nice, progressive horse,” Newnham said.
“That should see his rating lift to get him into the Four-Year-Old Classic Series. He’ll need another race before then, but he’s on his way and he’s improving every start.
“He’s always given that indication that he’s going to run 1600 (metres) out strongly, but first run you need to see them do it. Zac gave him a perfect ride, the gaps opened up for him, so he had the advantages with an inside gate (three), but he still had to put them away and he did it well.”
Invincible Ibis was a super successful pinhook for Kilgravin Lodge, sourced form the Widden Stud draft at Inglis Classic for just $80,000 by Kilgravin Lodge/ Waikato Bloodstock.
Invincible Ibis is the second winner from My Dear Friend, a winning half-sister by General Nediym to Aussie bred South African Group I winner Harry’s Son.
