Lot 353 of the 2026 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale wrote a new page in the proud history of Sledmere Stud during two days of phenomenal bloodstock trading at Riverside Stables in Sydney.
A home-bred daughter of multiple champion sire I Am Invincible and the exceptionally well-related stakes winning racemare Invictus Salute, the much sought after filly proved to be the highlight of this year’s Easter Sale for the Sledmere Stud team when realising $1.55 million following a tension-packed bidding duel.
When the gavel came down in the Inglis sales arena, Emirates Park, Michael Freedman Racing and Andrew Williams Bloodstock had collectively secured the filly for the seven-figure sum — an amount which put her in the top-dozen Lots sold at this year’s renewal of Australasia’s premium yearling sale.
Speaking immediately after the Vinnie-Invictus Salute yearling filly had been sold, co-breeder Treen Murphy stated: “To sell a million dollar horse that is actually our own and a home-bred, it’s just so overwhelming … it’s great. It’s really good. We’re just so excited.”
Treen added: “It’s a big team of people that go into it at home. It’s such a long process, as you know, so to get the result in the ring is just very humbling.
“That’s our first one [million dollar yearling] for Roy and I and the team. So now I know what it feels like and hopefully there’s many more to come.
“She [Lot 353] had the most amazing attitude. She had a walk like a panther, she’d just get up and do a parade every time, and was a spectacle to look at, really. She was just fabulous, beautiful.”
Interviewed shortly after his joint purchase of the filly, Emirates Park general manager Bryan Carlson remarked: “It’s easy to say, but from the day we got here she was a lovely filly and every day we’ve looked at her she just hasn’t put a foot wrong, so we thought we bought very well there.
“She’s very typical to a lot of the I Am Invincibles that we’ve had at the farm and she’s a great mover.”
Carlson has an impressive track record when it comes to identifying Group 1 racing prospects. He was directly responsible for the purchase of subsequent 2018 Golden Slipper winner Estijaab at the 2017 renewal of the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, and was also involved in the purchase of 2014 Golden Slipper winner Mossfun for Emirates Park a few years earlier. He was also instrumental in the breeding of Marhoona, Emirates Park’s homebred 2025 Golden Slipper winner.
And co-purchaser Michael Freedman has his own track record when it comes to training Golden Slipper winners. The Rosehill-based trainer prepared both Stay Inside (2021) and the aforementioned Marhoona to win their respective Slippers.