We bought the Invincible Army colt for €85,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale which makes him eligible for their €250,000 ‘Super Auction Sales Stakes’ at the Curragh next September. We have tasted considerable success at this sale over the years including Sir Busker (€25,000), Fantasy World (€70,000) and Flashcard (€36,000).

The colt is by the tough and durable sprinter Invincible Army, a top class son of the outstanding sire Invincible Spirit who raced for James Tate, winning the Duke Of York Stakes and finishing placed at Group 1 level. At stud, Invincible Army’s oldest progeny are now four and 2025 has been a breakthrough season for him with James’s Delight winning the Greenland Stakes, Balmoral Lady winning the Achilles Stakes and Trefor looking a Group horse in the making when winning a top handicap at York’s Ebor Festival.

The dam, Silver Rose, never raced due to being born prematurely. However, she has done a great job at stud to date, producing  three winners from three runners. These include the Listed-winning Eternal Elixir and the smart handicapper Bodorgan. Both of these horses were by similarly cheap sires which suggests this Silver Rose is a high class broodmare.

Luke Lillingston commented: “We have been shopping productively at Fairyhouse for many years and this year’s sale broke all previous records in every metric. In part this was, I believe, because there was a larger number of really nice horses than usual. I have no doubt that our new boy was one of the stars of the sale. We received so many compliments from others that bid on him or had wanted to buy him. The fact that Clive Cox was the underbidder speaks volumes. I believe he is one of the most exciting looking yearlings we have ever bought for Kennet Valley. As often we have sought to try to buy horses that we really love while being happy to compromise on a sire who is unfashionable or we believe is underrated. This policy has served us well over the years, I have great confidence in this special horse.”

After just the one fairly disappointing start Battleworthy unfortunately faced a minor set back so is unlikely to reappear until next season.