The "best yearling'' Segenhoe offered at this year's Australian Easter Yearling Sale made early claims for the star filly of her crop after Catch Me's dominant victory in the Group III Gimcrack Stakes at Randwick.
Despite being four-and-five wide the journey, Catch Me (I Am Invincible x Captivating Claire) proved her class to score a two-and-three-quarter length victory.
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Catch Me was one of the stars of this year's Sydney Easter Yearling Sale, the first held at Riverside Stables.
She was offered by Segenhoe Stud and purchased by Yu Long Investments' Yuesheng Zhang for $625,000.
Yu Long's Sam Fairgray wasn't surprised by the dominance of the win.
"She's a quality filly this,'' Fairgray said.
"It's fantastic for Mr Zhang. He's put a lot in so far and hopefully now we can start seeing some rewards for it. He's very passionate about it.
"I remember this filly at Easter, she just looked sharp, she's from a great family going back to the Eight Carat family.
"She looked fast, always walked well, she just caught the eye.''
Catch Me will be spelled immediately and will target either the inaugural $2m Inglis Millennium at Warwick Farm on February 9, or the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.
"We'll leave that up to Pete and Paul, they will know best,'' Fairgray said.
Segenhoe's Peter O'Brien described Catch Me as "a queen''.
"She was the best yearling we had,'' O'Brien said.
"Everybody believed that. She had a great mind, and you saw that mind today, she was five wide the trip but still had the mind to concentrate on the task at hand.''
Catch Me's full brother will be offered by Segenhoe at Easter next year.
"He will go close to topping the sale. He's an amazing animal,'' O'Brien said.
The next chance to buy a 2YO is at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale, at Riverside Stables on October 15.
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