Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
In winning Sunday’s Listed Canterbury Sprint (1200 metres), 4-year-old I Am Me (I Am Invincible) improved her record to seven victories from 12 starts and extended her winning-streak to four.
Her maiden black-type triumph confirmed her status as a hugely valuable broodmare prospect, with I Am Me being by Australia’s Champion Sire out of the five-time winner Mefnooda (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}), who is a half-sister to One Last Dance (Encosta De Lago) – a winner of her first three starts, including the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies) and the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (Fillies).
And, I Am Me's worth will only be enhanced, with her best yet to come, according to Dynamic Syndications’ Sales and Marketing Manager Adam Watt.
Dynamic Syndications and Dean Watt Bloodstock paid $210,000 for I Am Me at the 2020 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale (Book 1), where she was offered by Segenhoe Stud. Dynamic Syndications race the mare in partnership with her breeder, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum.
“Mares off the track at the moment… especially those really good, fast, sprinting mares are worth huge money and she would have to be extremely valuable at the moment,” Watt told TDN AusNZ.
“Mares off the track at the moment… especially those really good, fast, sprinting mares are worth huge money and she (I Am Me) would have to be extremely valuable at the moment.” - Adam Watt
“We certainly feel it’s really only the tip of the iceberg at the moment, too.”
I Am Me, who has amassed $449,600 in prizemoney, has gone to the paddock for a short let-up ahead of an autumn campaign that includes Group 1 targets, with the Oakleigh Plate (1100 metres) at Sandown-Lakeside on February 25 the immediate aim, followed by a potential tilt at the Newmarket H. (1200 metres) at Flemington on March 11.
“She’s a remarkable mare with the way they train her and this is the genius of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace; she races on Saturday, she’s in the paddock by Monday afternoon, they bring her back in the following weekend, she has a gallop on a Tuesday and goes back to the races on the Saturday; that’s about as much as they do with her, she’s just a very clean-winded horse that loves being trained out of the paddock,” Watt explained.
“She’ll have two weeks off and then head down to Melbourne to have a jump-out and then have a crack at the Oakleigh Plate, probably, first-up.
Adam Watt | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
“Ciaron reckons she’s his Newmarket horse and that’s the race he really wants to target with her, with the Oakleigh Plate on the way through.”
Looking further ahead, I Am Me could well find herself in Australia’s richest race, the $15 million, The Everest, with Watt confirming there has been some preliminary interest from a couple of slotholders.
“We could only dream about being offered a slot in The Everest and it’s certainly there on the table for slotholders that are interested in talking to us; we’d love to have the conversation,” Watt said.
“We have had correspondence from two slotholders just asking if we have done a deal and the simple answer is no, we haven’t, so she’s still very much there for the taking and obviously we would love to have chats with any slotholders.
“We have had correspondence from two (The Everest) slotholders just asking if we have done a deal and the simple answer is no, we haven’t, so she’s (I Am Me) still very much there for the taking and obviously we would love to have chats with any slotholders.” - Adam Watt
“She seems to fit the right profile; it does seem that it is a year where there is a bit of a changing of the guard in the sprinting ranks.”
‘She’s a machine’
I Am Me had her first start as a 4-year-old in a Fillies and Mares BM78 (1100 metres) at Rosehill on November 5. She won that race by 2.15l, before scoring by 1.89l in a BM88 (1100 metres) at the same track on December 3.
Two weeks later, I Am Me proved 1200 metres wasn’t beyond her, winning over that trip at Randwick in a BM88 under James McDonald. I Am Me lumped 58kg on that occasion and her time of 1:07.77 obliterated Athiri’s (Lonhro) class record 1:08.22 and wasn’t far off Yes Yes Yes’ 1200-metre track record of 1:07.32, which he set in winning the 2019 The Everest.
I Am Me winning at Randwick | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Watt said: “I appreciate it was wind-assisted, but to give Yes Yes Yes’ track record a nudge two starts ago… doing it all herself, as well; she had 58kg, she’s done it off the front, she hasn’t had a bunny to follow. And she was fairly soft late in the peace, having a look around and James McDonald sitting up for the photo, whereas Yes Yes Yes set the record in a truly run The Everest, coming from the back with no weight (53kg) on his back.
“James came in and said, ‘She’s a machine’. He was quite impressed with how effortless she did it and he truly felt she had another couple of gears there. When she hit the front, she floated around and was waiting. It looked like Dehorned Unicorn was coming for her, but James said she was in second gear and in cruise control and just having fun.
“James (McDonald) came in and said, ‘She’s a machine’. He was quite impressed with how effortless she (I Am Me) did it and he truly felt she had another couple of gears there.” - Adam Watt
“Tommy Berry said she was winning for fun at her first couple of starts back, James said he had gears up his sleeve, and then on Sunday, Andrew Adkins was surprised with just how how effortless it was for her. That’s the feedback we’ve been getting, that we haven’t reached the bottom of her yet and that’s probably the scariest part for rivals and most exciting part for us.
“Can she go faster? We really don’t know because our riders keep telling us that she’s just doing it so easily at the moment and nothing’s been able to go with her. And we feel she’s been ridden a little bit upside down at the moment, as well; we can’t wait to get an opportunity to ride her just off a hot speed, because the way she can chase and pick up off the top off that, I think that’s when you’ll actually see her at her very best.”
In the zone
I Am Me clocked 1:08.45 for Sunday’s Listed triumph, becoming the first horse to break 69 seconds for the Canterbury 1200 metres, shattering the previous record of 1:09.03 set by Hoystar (Danzero) in 2008.
That’s some feat for a horse that only won her maiden (at Canberra) on March 14, 2022.
I Am Me as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“She’s just flying, the stable have got her airborne,” Watt said.
“I still can’t believe she got beaten at Goulburn on debut. The horse that won the race retired after only winning a maiden and the horse that ran second is still a maiden, so to think she got beaten that day is perplexing.
“She’s done a remarkable job so far this preparation and it’s really exciting.”
Well-related
I Am Me hails from a lovely female family. Not only is her dam a half-sister to a Group 3 winner, the mare’s grandam, One World (Danehill {USA}), scored in Group 3 grade and is a sister to the Group 2 victress Langoustine. And the third dam, Prawn Cocktail (USA) (Artichoke {USA}), is a half-sister to Royal Academy (USA) – a Group 1 winner and brilliant sire.
Mefnooda when racing | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Mefnooda was purchased, in foal to Snitzel, by Cambridge Stud at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale for $450,000. She was served by Too Darn Hot (GB) last spring after missing the year before.
I Am Me’s Snitzel half-brother, Truro - an unraced 3-year-old – is in the Otaki stable of Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard.
