Invincible Ibis and Hugh Bowman winning the Hong Kong Derby on Sunday. Photo / Alex Evers
Kilgravin Lodge has a strong history of success selling out of New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale, and they added to their honour roll on Sunday when their 2023 graduate Invincible Ibis took out the $5.7 million Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The Hong Kong Derby is one of the most coveted prizes on the Hong Kong racing calendar and Eion Kemp, who operates Kilgravin Lodge with his wife Megan, was delighted to be associated with this year’s victor.
“Taking out a Hong Kong Derby is huge,” Kemp said. “It was huge for the farm and huge for that Ready to Run draft. I am very pleased.”
Kemp targets the Hong Kong market each year when selecting his yearlings to pinhook at breeze-up sales, and while he said Invincible Ibis didn’t fit the classic mould of a Hong Kong horse, he was attracted by his pedigree, particularly his sire Hellbent.
He was taken by Invincible Ibis when inspecting him at Inglis’ Classic Yearling Sale alongside Waikato Bloodstock’s Bryce Tankard, and the pair partnered to purchase him out of Widden Stud’s draft for A$80,000 ($96,00).
“Bryce does a lot of work with me selecting yearlings for the breeze-up sales,” Kemp said. “If I can’t be at the sales I know I have got someone on the ground that I can trust.
“We had a lot of success with Hellbent the year before [selling a two-year-old for $500,000] and I always go back to the well that treats me good. We wanted another Hellbent and he just moved well, he was a nice-bodied horse, and we always look for horses that just look like athletes.
“We are trying to source horses that we can fit into that Hong Kong market or upper-middle to top-end Australian market.
“He probably wasn’t a typical Hong Kong horse, he had the size but he wasn’t a big, heavy horse, he was a bit finer and more athletic.
“He didn’t cost us a fortune, but he was in the bracket we were looking at at that stage.”
Kemp said Invincible Ibis was a sensible horse and thrived during his education and Ready to Run preparation, he breezed up well and sold accordingly, with his trainer Mark Newnham securing him at Karaka with a final bid of $425,000.
“He was a pretty straightforward horse most of the way through,” Kemp said. “He had a few quirks about him but nothing really major. He had a nice, big stride to him and galloped well. He got on with the job and did what we needed him to do.
“He sold well and that was testament to the way he breezed up.”
Invincible Ibis was part of a 16-strong draft for Kilgravin in 2023, which was well received by the buying bench and resulted in the farm taking out the leading vendor by average crown.
“The year he came out of we had a massive sale,” Kemp said. “We have had some good classic winners – Feroce came out and won the Australian Guineas (Group 1, 1600m) and Invincible Ibis has now won the Derby – it is good for the farm.”
Kemp is enjoying watching the continued success of his graduates around the world and seeing that flow-on effect to his farm’s reputation and sale results.
“I think over the years it is just the consistency of the draft all round and we are always getting a good number of winners out of it,” he said.
Kemp is looking forward to once again taking a quality draft to Karaka for New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale in November, where he is hoping to offer another future Classic winner.
“I have got about 20 of my own, or part shares in, and our draft will be up around 35 to 40, the same as what it normally is,” he said.
“It is shaping up really nicely and we are very happy with how it [draft] is looking so far.”
– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk