I Am A Star (NZ) Makes History in Myer Classic

A graduate of the Karaka Weanling Sale made history on one of Australasian racing’s biggest stages, Derby Day at Flemington, when I Am A Star (NZ) (I Am Invincible) won Saturday’s A$500,000 Group 1 Myer Classic (1600m).

The prestigious fillies and mares’ feature has been run since 1988, and no three-year-old filly had ever won it until the $12,000 Karaka purchase I Am A Star brilliantly beat her older rivals on Saturday.

“It’s an enormous buzz, I’m not sure I can explain the feeling,” trainer Shane Nichols said. “To train your first Group 1 winner at Flemington during the carnival on Derby Day is something that you dream of.”

Ridden by Dean Yendall, I Am A Star sat in second place before kicking fiercely at the top of the straight to take the lead. Challengers lined up across the track in the last 200 metres, but I Am A Star held them all off to win by a long neck.

“She gave me a nice kick at the 400 metres and I thought, with the light weight on her back, hopefully she’s going to be good enough to hang on, which she thankfully was,” Yendall said. “I might sound a bit stupid here, but with the way she settled, I think she might make a nice little mare next season, maybe in a race like the Caulfield Cup.”

A daughter of the Dixieland Band mare Star Band, I Am A Star was bred by Laurence Eales. She was offered by Rich Hill Stud at the 2014 National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale at Karaka, where Llanhennock Trust bought her for $12,000.

I Am A Star has now had nine starts for four wins, two placings and more than A$630,000 in prize-money. She had previously won the Group 3 Quezette Stakes (1100m) and placed in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) and Group 2 Fillies’ Classic (1600m).

“She’s such a mature filly and nothing bothers her, she eats, she’s sound, she just goes about her work and if there’s another horse getting stressed near her she doesn’t care,” Nichols said.

“She was bred in New Zealand, she’s trained in Melbourne, she’s been to Adelaide, been to Sydney and back to Melbourne, so she’s like a nine-year-old gelding, but she’s got a bit of toe.”

I Am A Star also has another connection to the Karaka sales complex. Her dam Star Band also went through the 2014 National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale, selling to Mr CM Gray for $2,000.