Champion Australian stallion I Am Invincible sired the two highest-priced lots on the opening day of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale at Karaka on Wednesday, including a colt that was snapped up by the high-flying Yulong operation for $675,000.

Hours before another I Am Invincible colt shattered Ready to Run records with his $1,650,000 purchase price, all eyes were on Lot 32 in the draft of KB Bloodstock. He is out of the Group One-winning Written Tycoon mare (La) Luna Rossa and was high on Yulong’s wish list in the lead-up to this week’s sale.

Yulong’s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray was pleased to hold out underbidder Andrew Forsman and add the colt to Mr Yuesheng Zhang’s impressive thoroughbred portfolio.

“He’s a very nice colt out of a good mare, and he breezed up well,” Fairgray said. “We see him as a nice colt to add to the racing team, and then hopefully he might make a stallion prospect further down the track.

“The fact that he was a November foal means he’s got a bit of upside. We’ll take him home, be patient with him and see where he ends up.”

The colt holds extra appeal for Yulong through (La) Luna Rossa, who was one of the first Group One winners for her sire Written Tycoon when she captured the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) in 2016. Written Tycoon is now the sire of 17 Group One winners and is the jewel on the crown of Yulong’s stallion roster.

“The fact that he’s out of a Group One-winning Written Tycoon mare certainly adds to his appeal for Mr Zhang,” Fairgray said. “It’s a pedigree that suits Australia well, and the cross with I Am Invincible has worked.”

Yulong’s green and white colours have been an unstoppable force in Australia this spring, celebrating Group One triumphs with Via Sistina in the Cox Plate (2040m), Champions Stakes (2000m), Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and Winx Stakes (1400m), Deny Knowledge in the Might And Power Stakes (2000m), Kimochi in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m), and homebred filly Treasurethe Moment in the VRC Oaks (2500m). Three-year-old colt Growing Empire has placed in the Gr.1 The Everest (1200m), Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and Manikato Stakes (1200m).

“Mr Zhang has put a lot of investment in, so it’s great to see him being rewarded for that with the results we’ve had this spring,” Fairgray said. “Some of those successes have been with yearlings and older horses that we’ve bought, and others are horses we’ve bred ourselves on the farm, so they’ve come from everywhere.

“We’re still quite a young operation, but the results are starting to flow, which has been great. Hopefully that can continue with some of our newer recruits, like this colt.”