Confidence high ahead of Melbourne Premier Sale
Victorian breeders get behind Inglis’ Victorian sale as buyers flock to Oaklands Junction
A concerted push by Inglis to gain the support of Victoria’s biggest breeders to back the state’s major auction with some of their best-credentialed stock has industry stakeholders confident about an invigorated Melbourne market ahead of the Premier Yearling Sale, which gets underway tomorrow.
The focus on the Classic sale, Inglis’ first of the year, and that of rival Magic Millions in January, has seen some of Victoria’s better-bred yearlings be offered out of the state in recent years but the quality of 2020 Premier catalogue has the endorsement of the buying bench.
Inglis general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing Sebastian Hutch believes the apparent strength of the Premier sale has been bolstered through extensive Hunter Valley stud representation.
“Over the years, the extent of the Hunter Valley participation has varied but we’re very pleased with the Hunter Valley involvement this year, but similarly the Victorian offering seems to have gone up a level,” Hutch said.
“Obviously the test will be how buyers perceive the horses, but certainly walking around the grounds the past few days, and based on the feedback, we believe we’re on track for a very positive sale and that’s a credit to the vendors.”
The Premier sale, traditionally a buying stronghold for South Africa, is also expected to see investors from Japan, China and Hong Kong feature on the purchasing list.
“We have done a lot of work, as we do with every sale, to canvass the right people to come to the sale,” Hutch continued.
“At Classic we had some mitigating factors with some international issues (coronavirus among others) and the wet weather probably didn’t help, but by the same token the outcome was very positive.
“We’ve faced a few challenges coming into this sale also, but right from the week that we announced the catalogue, there’s been a really positive attitude towards the sale from buyers.”
From what he has seen so far, international bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever thinks the sale is on par with previous years.
“I’m only about halfway around but I’m looking for Hong Kong so I’m mainly looking at colts but I’m coming across plenty of individuals that I think will be suitable; strong, racey, trainable horses,” McKeever told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It’s quite interesting because quite a lot of the vendors, it’s the first time I’ve seen their horses being Victorian. I haven’t found them at other sales so far so I’m looking forward to getting through the rest of them and making a nice shortlist.
“It looks similar (to Premier last year). I wouldn’t think it’s vastly up but on par with what I remember this time last year.”
Cornerstone Stud’s Sam Hayes is also confident the strong sales season will roll on into Premier.
“I think the Inglis team have spent a lot of time thinking about how they can make this sale as good as it can be,” Hayes told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It looks like there’s a healthy buying bench here, the catalogue looks good and we’re happy with the horses we brought here.
“Inspections have been very steady and we’ve been quite busy and again yesterday (Thursday), Friday is always busy. We’re very happy with the people coming back to look for a second time and we’re looking forward to Sunday.”
There’s a bit of a buzz about the stables of the Barossa Valley-based stud this year as they head into the Victorian sale with a small but select draft and the first southern hemisphere crop of Sir Prancealot (Tamayuz).
“The beauty with Sir Prancealot is that we’ve got results in the northern hemisphere so he’s in California now in his first season and he’s been extremely well received,” Cornerstone Stud principal Sam Hayes told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He covered over 130 mares at a fee of $15,000 which is a good fee for the west coast and that’s on the back of having 14 runners for ten winners, six stakes performers and four stakes winners in America.
“Then he was leading freshman sire in Europe. He had 32 two-year-old winners in his first crop and he recently had his first Group 1 winner, so we’ve got a lot of results on the board for him.
“I guess when they’re totally unproven there is a bit of uncertainty and excitement with first season sires but we feel like we’ve got a proven first season sire on our hands and that gives buyers a lot of confidence.”
As for their draft, Cornerstone will present 13 yearlings across the Premier and Showcase sessions featuring a wide range of horses by first season sires Capitalist (Written Tycoon) and Winning Rupert (Written Tycoon), as well as the tried and trues like Street Boss (Street Cry) and Lonhro (Octagonal).
“We don’t feel like we’ve got any gaps or stallions that aren’t firing,” Hayes continued.
“Even Vancouver has had three stakes performers and I think there’s a lot of people that think he’s one of our nicer types, Lot 24.
“We’ve got a beautiful Tavistock colt, we’ve got a beautiful Lonhro colt and Street Boss is firing at the right time.
“We backed Street Boss on the back of the fact that hopefully he would have a good two-year-old season this year, and the team at Darley were very strong on the fact that he got those good mares in that season and they’d be coming through now. So that’s worked and we feel that our Showcase draft is as strong on type as our Premier draft.”
It’s been a fruitful sales season in the southern hemisphere since the record–breaking Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January and Hayes thinks that will continue when selling commences at Oaklands tomorrow.
Vinery Stud, who are hoping their resident sire All Too Hard (Casino Prince) can land his maiden Group 1 as a stallion with Alligator Blood in today’s Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington, have been big players at each of the Australian sales so far and bloodstock manager Adam White said their operation are keen to continue to support the Victorian sale.
“We always bring eight to a dozen to this sale,” White told ANZ Bloodstock news. “It has generally been a good sale for us and our clearance rate in Melbourne has been exceptional.
“We’re very happy to have a draft here in Melbourne.”
James O’Brien of Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria echoed the thoughts of his fellow industry identities.
“I have got a good feeling coming into this sale,” O’Brien said.
“With what Inglis has done with the complex, and we saw that last year with the atmosphere and mood, is fantastic.
“Certainly I think the Victorian breeders have got behind this sale and the feedback I’ve had is that the quality of horse and the breeds of horses make a really good catalogue. I’m a little bit optimistic heading into this sale.”
Newmarket possible starting point for Exceedance
Stud-bound Group 1-winning colt Exceedance (Exceed And Excel) could resume in next week’s Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington in a bid to enhance his value as a stallion prospect.
The last-start Hawkes Racing-trained Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner was given a jump–out at Flemington yesterday, his third this campaign, ahead of potentially his final racing preparation before retiring to Vinery Stud.
“He is ticking along pretty well from what the Hawkes have told us,” Vinery Stud’s Adam White said.
“He’s had the three jump–outs, so he should be nice and tight and ready to go and hopefully that will be next week.
“We will see how he pulls up from this morning’s jump–out and we will discuss a few things, but the Newmarket is definitely a strong option at this stage.”
Royal Ascot has been floated as a potential target for Exceedance and the autumn will not necessarily be a racetrack swansong for the $180,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale graduate.
“We just want to see how he goes in his first couple of runs and see where he is at,” White continued.
“He is obviously going very well and there’s no real firm plan to go to stud and we don’t really need to if he looks like he is going to do a good job next year (on the track).”
White also confirmed yesterday that Exceedance was a rig which would force Vinery to carefully manage the horse when he does eventually retire to stud.
“It doesn’t really impact when he goes to stud as such, but it will just impact on how we manage him, certainly in the first year,” he said.
“We are a stud that doesn’t overtax our young stallions generally anyway and we like to go easy on them in that first year.”