Classic finish to bumper Inglis sale at Riverside as another record is set
Fastnet Rock filly fetches $500,000 to put exclamation mark on 2022 edition which accrues 30 per cent increase in aggregate
The curtain last night came down on the Inglis Classic Sale with the company having conducted yet another record yearling sale, after the February auction increased its turnover by nearly two thirds on the same time two years ago, fostering predictions that demand will be maintained for the rest of the year.
The 2022 Book 1 Sydney sale, in which 545 horses were sold for a combined $66,823,500 at an average of $122,612, a median of $100,000 at a clearance rate of 90 per cent, fueled the significant year-on-year increase, effectively confirming the preparedness to invest in the Australian bloodstock market was at an unprecedented level.
When rival Magic Millions held the season-opening Gold Coast Yearling Sale last month, setting its own records, the platform was set for Inglis to capitalise on the intense demand.
This week’s figures, though, still left some experienced industry observers stunned by how much the market has risen in such a short time, with the aggregate up 59 per cent compared to the 2020 sale, the last before the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was felt.
Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch was optimistic about the prospects of Classic prior to the opening lot going through the ring on Sunday, but he did not foresee what transpired in the following three days.
“For the sale to grow to that extent with no change to the catalogue numbers, I would say surely would be unprecedented in the context of Australian sales,” Hutch said.
“It’s a testament to the opportunity we’ve been afforded by breeders with really nice horses. We went into the winter with the firm belief that we had the capacity to sell really nice horses well at this sale and have the market to sustain it.”
Hutch is confident that the upward trend will continue at the upcoming yearling sales, Inglis’ principally being Melbourne Premier and the Australian Easter sale back at Riverside Stables.
“Breeders backed us with good horses, they believed in our conviction and it’s borne out with the results because the buyers came here and liked what they saw and were prepared to pay good money for them and that’s why we have the figures we have now,” he said.
“(Buyers) were consistently active throughout the sale which is usually an indication of people who are confident in the way that they are doing business and, certainly, I would expect many of the participants here to be participants across Premier and into Easter, the May sale or even the Gold sale in May.”
Maher and Eustace banking on pedigree upgrade with $500,000 Fastnet Rock filly
The most expensive yearling sold on day three was a $500,000 Fastnet Rock (Danehill) half-sister to William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Silent Sedition (War Chant) who will be trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
Armed with the knowledge that unraced two-year-old colt Ringleader (Snitzel) – the first foal of Silent Sedition – has shown talent on the training track, Maher and Eustace and Australian Bloodstock joined forces to buy the Fastnet Rock (Danehill) filly from the same family for $500,000 yesterday.
The leading trainers and the syndicator also partnered with Lustre Lodge to buy the Coolmore-bred and sold filly, who was catalogued as Lot 558.
“At last year’s Magic Millions sale, the Snitzel colt out of Silent Sedition we went hard on and he is a lovely colt who is in the system at the moment,” Maher’s bloodstock manager Will Bourne said.
“We wouldn’t be surprised if we get a pedigree update in the next 12 months on the page and, being a filly with a great physical, she has residual value and is a good investment for our clients.”
Australian Bloodstock also has a share in Ringleader, a $600,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase, who is yet to be seen in a public jump-out or barrier trial.
The Fastnet Rock filly is the seventh foal out of the unraced Fiorentina (Dubai Destination) who, along with Silent Sedition, is also the dam of the stakes-placed Perfect World (Pride Of Dubai) and multiple winners Ginger Jones (Gingerbread Man) and Downforce (Snippetson).
At least 12 horses from the Classic sale will end up in the Maher-Eustace training regime and Bourne said the buying team had to work hard to find the right horses in a strong market.
“We’ve had to do our homework and go far and wide to find value,” he said.
“We’ve only bought around ten horses, but I think the horses that we have bought have been good value.”
Coolmore marketing and nominations manager Tom Moore said the filly could have been presented to the market at any sale in the country, but the stud chose Classic to showcase her.
“She had a lot of interest all through the week and plenty of good judges were on her. She ended up going to a great stable where she’ll run in the Australian Bloodstock colours and she’ll get every chance to add to her pedigree, which is one of the best pedigrees in the Stud Book,” Moore said.
“There’s a lot of fillies being bred up in the family and it will continue to improve in time. Fastnet Rock is going as well as he ever has, a dual champion sire, and fillies like this will always be well sought after even when she’s finished racing and we wish the new owners the very best of luck.”
Coolmore sold eight yearlings for a combined $1.475 million in the Book 1 session of the Classic sale.
Moroney toasts powerful Almanzor filly
There aren’t many yearlings which have gone to market, certainly in the southern hemisphere, who agent Paul Moroney hasn’t cast his expert eye over, so when he says a daughter of Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) “would be one of the most powerful fillies I have seen in any horse sale”, you’re obliged to take notice.
In backing his judgement, Moroney convinced his trainer-brother Mike Moroney to increase the budget in order to take home the filly, catalogued as Lot 659, the second-to-last lot of Book 1, for $340,000.
“Her hindquarters were exceptional. She had the widest, squarest hindquarters I have seen on a horse for a long time,” Paul Moroney said yesterday.
“You could probably have a glass of beer and put it on top of her hindquarters and it would sit there and not move. That’s how square and wide her hindquarters were and she had gaskins to go with it and she had forearms to go with it. She had a great body and she was balanced.”
Bred at Cambridge Stud and sold in Sydney yesterday on its behalf by Bhima Thoroughbreds, the filly is the fourth living foal out of the unraced Krsdahl (Rock Of Gibraltar) who descends from the potent Eight Carat (Pieces Of Eight) family.
“She’s very bum-high at the moment – she still has to come up in front,” Moroney said.
“I just saw her as probably the quickest Almanzor I’ve seen and out of a pedigree we know can get a very fast two-year-old type. There’s a good filly that’s just popped out of that Eight Carat family again down in Melbourne, an Exceed And Excel filly (Miss Roseiano).
“That blood comes through all the time. Out of that family, it is hard to buy into and we paid a bit of money for her, but I thought she just oozed class and strength and all the attributes that I look for in a good filly.”
The yearling’s two-year-old sister, who is named Lomanza, has been retained to race by Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay.
Moroney and partner Catheryne Bruggeman bought another Almanzor filly at last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale for NZ$180,000 and the now named Dragon Bubbles has provided connections of the Mike Moroney and Pam Gerard-trained juvenile with encouragement during her early education.
“They think she’s a very nice filly; not necessarily a two-year-old type, not many of them are, but they expect her to come to fruition in the autumn and possibly be a Classic filly in the spring of this year,” Moroney said.
“The signs are good for Almanzor. He has had a stakes winner in New Zealand, which you wouldn’t really expect this early in his career, and one thing I have heard from a lot of people is that they’ve got great temperaments and that makes the job easier.”
Moroney also bought a So You Think (High Chaparral) colt out of Frilly Curtain (Mossman) for $220,000 from Bell River Thoroughbreds on the final day of trade, who will be trained at Flemington by his brother.
Extreme sale for vendors
Meanwhile, Newgate Farm’s Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), the sire of Classic’s two highest-priced lots at $825,000 and $775,000 respectively, was the sale’s leading stallion by average with seven yearlings changing hands for $352,857.
His barnmates Deep Field (Northern Meteor) (29 for $4.35 million), Capitalist (Written Tycoon) (28 for $4.185 million) and Russian Revolution (Snitzel) (25 for $3.805 million) were also popular with the buying bench, ending the sale as the leading sires by aggregate.
Newgate Farm, the Classic sale’s biggest vendor with 54 yearlings offered, sold 48 for aggregate receipts of $5.645 million to be the leading vendor for the second year in succession.
It comes after Newgate Farm was, for the first time, crowned leading vendor at last month’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Sledmere Stud brought 29 Book 1 yearlings to Riverside Stables, achieving a 100 per cent clearance rate, and generating $4.955 million in sales.
Mane Lodge’s Neil and Denise Osborne, who consigned the record Classic-sold Extreme Choice yearling on Monday, was the leading vendor by average (three or more lots sold) after trading four yearlings in Book 1 for a mean of $296,250.
Victorian trainer Mark Kavanagh was the leading buyer, taking home 14 yearlings for a spend of $1.58 million, while Darby Racing purchased ten yearlings from Book 1 for a total of $1.36 million.
Sale statistics – Book 1
2022 2021
Catalogued 660 620
Offered 604 548
Sold 545 (90%) 501 (91%)
Aggregate $66,823,500 (+30%) $51,273,000
Average $122,612 (+20%) $102,546
Median $100,000 (+25%) $80,000
Top Lot $825,000 $625,000
Sale statistics – Highway Session
2022 2021
Catalogued 150 183
Offered 136 159
Sold 116 (85%) 140 (88%)
Aggregate $5,783,500 (-15%) $6,823,000
Average $49,858 (+2%) $48,736
Median $40,000 (+6%) $37,500
Top Lot $200,000 $220,000