Confidence high for Classic as Inglis keeps cap on numbers
Confidence high for Classic as Inglis keeps cap on numbers
Sebastian Hutch believes the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale remains the quiet achiever of the Australian sales circuit and is confident the relative value and graduate success can continue in 2021 after releasing the catalogue for next year’s auction.
Inglis last night revealed it had compiled a catalogue of 803 yearlings by 108 different stallions, including I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), Written Tycoon (Iglesia), Exceed And Excel (Danehill), Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Pierro (Lonhro), So You Think (High Chaparral), Fastnet Rock (Danehill), Dundeel (High Chaparral), Savabeel (Zabeel) and Deep Field (Northern Meteor), for the three-day February sale.
Hutch, Inglis’ general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing, said next year’s Classic sale would appeal to a broad spectrum of local and international buyers.
“We feel this sale is the most underestimated sale on the calendar when you consider the results of the sale itself, and the success of the graduates on the racetrack in the past two, three and four years who have won the Golden Slipper, the Melbourne Cup, The Everest, the Blue Diamond, the Randwick Guineas, the Victoria Derby, etc, etc,” Hutch said.
“It is a sale that people in any area of the market can go to and find the horse they are looking for, whether it’s a colt who can go on and be a stallion, a filly with a good pedigree, trade horses or fun horses, it’s a sale that you can go to and be confident that you will find what you want and at good value.
“The average price for a stakes winner out of the Classic in the past three years has cost $90,000 and that’s really tremendous value when you consider some of the other sales and that the average cost of an Australian stakes winner is three times that much.”
Past Classic sale graduates include this year’s Everest (1200m) winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt), Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Shadow Hero (Pierro), Vow And Declare (Declaration Of War), Pippie (Written Tycoon), Castelvecchio (Dundeel), It’s Me (Shamus Award), Sweet Deal (Casino Prince) and Rubisaki (Rubick).
Inglis decided against following the lead of its rival Magic Millions by increasing the size of its Classic catalogue, with 803 lots set to go through the Riverside Stables sales ring in February, to kick off the company’s 2021 sales series.
The three-day auction, comprising a 620-lot Book 1 offering and a 183-lot Highway Session, starts on Sunday, February 7 at Inglis’ Sydney complex adjacent to Warwick Farm racecourse.
The third running of the $2 million Inglis Millennium (1100m), a two-year-old race restricted to Inglis sale graduates, has been moved from Warwick Farm to Randwick on February 6 as the lead-in to a 220-lot day one session, which opens the Classic sale at 10am on the Sunday.
“Horses for yearling sales traditionally arrive on the complex really very early in advance of the sale and it gives plenty of time for people to work through the horses they need to see, whether it is the whole catalogue or a select number of them,” Hutch said.
“Historically, Saturday afternoon at any sale isn’t a busy time for inspections and we don’t feel the races being at Randwick is going to compromise the sale.
“In fact, Randwick is such a superior facility that we feel it’s a great place to be able to host the Millennium, which has produced a multiple Group 1 winner in its first year (Castelvecchio) and a very high-class horse in Prime Star in its second year. Then there’s a race like the Inglis 3YO Sprint, which complements it nicely.”
The 2021 Classic sale sees the return of Coolmore with a draft of 20 yearlings by sires such as Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock), Rubick (Encosta De Lago), American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile), Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) and Churchill (Galileo), while fellow major stallion farms Arrowfield Stud and Widden Stud also have significant drafts heading to Riverside.
New Zealand-based Wentwood Grange has a draft of six yearlings, including colts by Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) and the emerging Contributer (High Chaparral).
Victorian vendors will also have a presence at the Classic sale with Yulong (eight lots), Two Bays Farm (five lots), Woodside Park Stud (four lots) and Ultra Thoroughbred Racing (three lots) all presenting drafts.
Hunter Valley vendor Fergal Connolly of Valiant Stud has 16 yearlings by sires such as Shalaa (Invincible Spirit), Star Turn (Star Witness), Ocean Park (Thorn Park) and Nicconi (Bianconi) heading to the Classic sale and they have already started their preparation alongside his Magic Millions draft.
“Inglis always puts together a good buying bench of trainers and owners for the Classic, so we are confident in taking nice drafts there,” Connolly said yesterday.
“The Classic horses have basically joined on as an adjunct to the Magic Millions prep three weeks in, so they are currently getting worked and exercised at a lesser level, but on an upward incline and getting prepared for the sales.”
Connolly is maintaining a positive outlook for the 2021 yearling sales series, confidence which is further fuelled by early interest from agents and trainers.
“Our bookings for on-farm parades have been higher than any other year so far,” he said.
“We start parading on the farm from December 10, with a couple before that, and the books are full and things are looking good for next year.”
Hutch also says a lot of positives can be taken from the 2020 Australian sales, particularly later in the year when conducted under the influence of Covid-19, and is optimistic that the robust nature of the market can hold up next year.
“The last six or seven months have been very challenging for everybody, but we have had significant exposure to it having had a number of major sales during the pandemic, which has been the catalyst for a lot of improvement and a lot of learning,” he said.
“We have become even more familiar with the demographics of the buying benches at respective sales and we feel we’ve adapted to it very well.”
2021 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale schedule
Sunday, February 7: Day 1 – 10am (Lots 1-270)
Monday, February 8: Day 2 – 10am (Lots 271-540)
Tuesday February 9: Day 3 – 10am (Lots 541-803)
*Highway Session to commence from Lot 621
Inglis Classic Yearling Sale catalogue