Kilgravin celebrate Hong Kong Derby triumph

There could be no better advertisement for the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale than the almost clean sweep in the Hong Kong Derby (2000m), with the Mark Newnham-trained Invincible Ibis (Hellbent) defeating fellow graduate Numbers (NZ) (Tivaci) to win the blue-riband event.

For good measure the Manfred Man-trained Patch Of Cosmo (NZ) (Super Seth) fought valiantly for fourth behind third-placed Stormy Grove (Toronado) as New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale graduates filled three of the first four positions in the HK$26 million feature.

Invincible Ibis was offered by Kilgravin Lodge at the 2023 Ready to Run Sale and was bought for $425,000 by trainer Mark Newnham on behalf of the Ibis Syndicate. The Derby winner has now won five of his 10 starts and placed on another four occasions, earning HK$22.17m (NZ$4.85m).

Invincible Ibis was among the key contenders for this year’s Hong Kong Derby, having caught the eye with a strong finish into second in the HK$13m Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) at his previous start. It was a performance that hinted he might be building towards something special in the Derby, and so it proved.

Under a perfect Hugh Bowman ride, Invincible Ibis reeled in gallant leader Numbers inside the final furlong, going on to win by a length and a quarter in a new race record time of 1:59.43.

For Eion and Megan Kemp’s Kilgravin Lodge, the victory is yet another star graduate from a stellar 2023 draft and a great promotion for the Matamata breaking and pre-training operation, with Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) winner Feroce also sold from the Ready To Run Sale draft.

“We had a great sale that year and we needed a couple of good horses to come out of it and to have two classic winners come out of that draft is massive. It's hugely satisfying,” Eion Kemp said.

“It just cements the quality of horses that are coming out of the drafts. We put a lot of time and effort into buying and selecting horses for our drafts and the clients trust us with their good well bred horses to put back through the Ready to Run.

“I think it really just stands us in good stead and shows that we can produce good horses year in, year out, which is massively satisfying for the farm.

“Bryce Tankard and I spotted him at the Classic Sale and I do a lot of work with Bryce. We just loved the way he moved. For us, that's the way we buy a lot of our horses, they’ve got to have good movement to them.

“We had a lot of success with Hellbent the year before (sold 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.

“My whole focus when I'm buying Ready to Run horses is I buy them by a stallion first that I can sell, and they’ve got to have good movement to them. They’re my two criteria.

“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.”

Kemp juggles preparing yearling and Ready To Run Sale drafts for Karaka with his breaking and pre-training business.

“We probably break-in between 120 and 150 yearlings each year,” Kemp said.

“We're buying horses for our Ready To Run draft and also getting the Ready To Run horses broken in, along with all the other yearlings at the moment.

“Then we’ll start to move the horses into their own little routines and programs to fit where they’re heading, whether they are heading to trainers or heading to the breeze up sale, where we will probably prepare around 35 again.”

The most coveted race in Hong Kong, the Derby has been won by nine New Zealand bred or sold horses since 2010 alone, and it is the on-going success of the Ready To Run Sale that keeps buyers returning for more Kemp said.

“It’s performance,” he said. “The sale has such a history of horses performing out of it and I just think the Kiwi vendors do a great job.

“The vendors know what people are looking for and they purchase and amass the right horses to go into that sale and they prep them up well.

“I just think it comes down to purely performance of the sale and the whole New Zealand way of doing things.”

While Invincible Ibis occupies rare air right now, Kemp already has an eye on his next Hong Kong star with another Kilgravin Ready To Run Sale graduate in Quantum Legend set to make his Hong Kong debut in the coming month.

A son of Castelvecchio, Quantum Legend has caught the eye in a pair of trials under Zac Purton.

“He was sold the year after and is also with Mark Newnham and yet to debut,” Kemp said. “I said to Megan last night, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if he could also show up in his four-year-old year and who knows, let’s go back-to-back’.”