Inglis Easter Sale Begins Tuesday

The Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale kicks off its three-day stand at the Newmarket complex in Sydney Tuesday, with the first 195 of a total 580 yearlings catalogued set to go under the hammer during the opening session. The first 450 of those yearlings comprise Session I of the sale, while Session II will wrap up proceedings the second half of Thursday's session.

This year's Easter sale has big boots to fill, with last year's renewal setting seven-year highs for aggregate (A$102,110,000), average (A$291,743, up 15.4%) and median (A$200,000, up 5.3%). Inglis's National Bloodstock Director Jonathan D'Arcy admitted that eclipsing last year's results will be difficult.

“It wouldn't surprise me to see the average come off a little bit, but having said that the market's been strong all year,” he said. “We have some really nice horses, and stallions like More Than Ready, Snitzel and Redoute's Choice are having great runs, so we're quietly hopeful of a strong sale. Number one for us is always the clearance rate, just getting the horses sold on behalf of our clients.”

Vendors have been busy parading their yearlings over the past week, and D'Arcy said the turnout of buyers has been very satisfactory.

“We know in advance about the interstate and overseas people coming, so we were very comfortable with those numbers, but the locals have really arrived in force as well,” he said. D'Arcy said he thinks there is plenty of value to be found.

“Most people are telling me they have shortlists that are longer than they normally have at this sale,” he said. “I think there's some really good value to be had. The thing we always try to do is emphasize that not every horse can make A$200,000-plus; there are a lot of horses here that are going to be making between A$80,000 and A$150,000, and I think buyers that are shopping in that bracket are going to get some outstanding value.”

The Kentucky-based WinStar Farm made its first big splashes Down Under when signing for a handful of yearlings in partnership with the likes of China Horse Club at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January, and that operation's General Manager David Hanley arrived in Sydney on the weekend.

“WinStar is involved in a parternship with China Horse Club, Newgate, SF Bloodstock and some other partners, and buying some yearlings down here to race,” said Hanley, revealing WinStar was thus far partners in about 26 horses Down Under.

“Hopefully we're going to get some more here,” he said, adding that the yearlings he had seen over the weekend made a favourable impression.

“I think they're all very nice horses,” he said. “These horses down here, the ones we're trying to buy, are more 2-year-olds; forward horses that are going to run in the [G1 Golden] Slipper. Consequently, we're focusing on that type of horse and there's a lot of those fast, early maturing types here.”

WinStar Farm is the home base of More Than Ready, who is perennially one of Australia's leading sires.

A regular buyer on the Inglis Easter scene is Mark Richards, a member of the buying team for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. A pair of Easter buys topped Hong Kong's International Sale last month; the top-priced lot (HK$8.5 million/£767,148/€982,659/A$1,441,435/US$1,103,896) was a 3-year-old Starcraft (NZ) gelding out of Top Cuban (Aus) (Anabaa), whose Redoute's Choice (Aus) half-brother sells Tuesday as lot 113, and he was followed on the leaderboard by a 2-year-old Manhattan Rain full-brother to Group 1 winner Wandjina (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) at HK$7 million.

“We've just had our main sale over in Hong Kong and two of our biggest lots both came out of this sale,” said Richards. “It's a very significant sale for us and it's been a very lucky sale for us as well. It doesn't matter how much homework you do and how many hard hours you put in, you need that drop of luck to really make it work.”

Richards pointed out that Easter graduates have performed not only in the Hong Kong sale ring, but also on its racetracks.

“It's always been a very successful sale, not just from a selling-on point of view, but performance on-track as well,” he said. “Winners have come out of this sale with alarming regularity and we're trying to find the best of them.”

Richards noted that the HKJC team shops for sprinter/milers, primarily by proven sires, to suit the Hong Kong race program, but he said the increased competitiveness of the sale has caused them to sometimes relax their standards.

“We're looking primarily for proven sires, but that's become harder,” he said. “We've got to look a little outside our comfort zone, but primarily sprinter/milers and top-of-the-ground horses and horses that are correct. When you're buying them for re-sale in Hong Kong, you're very much trying to fit the mold for the people up there.”

Royston and Catriona Murphy of Sledmere Stud bring a draft of 20–one of their largest consignments to date–to the Easter sale, including a pair of colts from the last crop of Street Cry (Ire)–10 and 63–to sell on opening day, and another by that late Darley sire to sell Wednesday (lot 197), as well as a filly by More Than Ready (lot 280).

“We're very happy with the parades going into the sale,” said Catriona. “We've had a large number of inspections and have a really lovely bunch of horses. It's good to see there are a lot of internationals here, which is very positive. We're quite looking forward to getting the first lot in the ring tomorrow.”

Chris Watson's Mill Park Stud brings its typical small but select draft: lot 136, a Lonhro colt out of stakes winner Very Discreet (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}); lot 230, a Sebring (Aus) filly out of stakes winner Celebrity Girl (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}); and lot 249, a Street Cry (Ire) half-brother to the Mill Park-bred Group 1 winner Fawkner (Aus) (Reset {Aus}) and dual Group 2 winner Tanby (Aus) (Galileo {Ire}).

“Inspections have been positive,” said Watson. “We were a bit slow off the mark so we were a bit concerned, but the last two days have been very good; we couldn't be happier.”

Explaining how he selects his Easter draft, Watson said, “We like to be in the top third of any one sale, so we try to bring horses here that fit that mold on type and pedigree. To us this is one of the major sales for international buyers so we try to bring a horse that suits that marketplace.”

Breeders both Down Under and in the Northern Hemisphere will be keenly anticipating the results of the five Frankel (GB) yearlings set to go under the hammer. Three Bridges Thoroughbreds offers lot 237, a filly out of Chocolicious (SAf) (Kahal {GB}), and that operation's Toby Liston said, “She's handling the sale well; she's very fit. She's a precocious 2-year-old type and that's what the Australian market wants. They've never sold in Australia so it's hard to value her, but she'll be put on the market and she's ready to be sold.”

“She's been really popular and the good judges like her,” he added. “The inspections have been great. Inglis has done a great job getting the international buyers here. It's our most international sale. If you've got a nice horse you'll be rewarded, if not you'll be in trouble.”

The sale begins at 10 a.m. local time Tuesday through Thursday.