Yarraman Park bred, sold and co-owned I Am Invincible gelding King of Sparta captured the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas in 2022, the Magic Millions Sprint in 2023 and returned to the Gold Coast on Saturday to do it all again scoring a commanding win in the $1million Magic Millions Snippets (!200m).
The Peter and Paul Snowden trained King Of Sparta was backed as though unbeatable and proved to be exactly that. Ridden by James McDonald he showed his class to cruise clear and win by a couple of lengths in 1:08.26 seconds.
Peter Snowden had some anxious moments after the start when King of Sparta had drifted back in the field, but it all came together when it mattered.
“I said to J-Mac that he's better than these horses and he can afford to give them a bit of a start when you get him balanced but when he jumped and stepped like that I thought 'my God, I might have said too much there',” said Peter Snowden.
"But at the 600-metre mark he started to truck up and he went around them a couple of strides and he's a pretty talented horse. With the sorts of horses he's been meeting compared to today - without putting any of those horses down here today - he's been running against elite, Everest horses and running well.
"He thoroughly deserved the win.
"Someone asked this morning what we'd do after today and I said get him ready for next year.
"Some horses thrive on work and this horse is the opposite. The fresher he is the better and that turn-of-foot today was outstanding."
A $700,000 yearling purchase for China Horse Club, Newgate Farm and Starlight Racing from Yarraman Park at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale, King of Sparta was gelded after just four runs and his overall record is now seven wins and seven placings from 27 starts with prizemoney topping $3.2million.
After being gelded he had a change of ownership and King Of Sparta is now raced by a syndicate headed by Yarraman Park and is the fourth foal, and best performer to date for Group III winning Holly Roman Emperor (IRE) mare Octavia, who is back in foal again to I Am Invincible.
