Entries open for 2021 Inglis yearling sale series
Entries open for 2021 Inglis yearling sale series
Inglis has unveiled its 2021 sale dates with the company’s Classic, Premier and Australian Easter yearling sales maintaining their traditional places on the calendar but the auction house yesterday confirmed that two smaller auctions would be altered next year.
The HTBA Scone Yearling Sale, held at Riverside Stables last month, will now be permanently staged in Sydney after a number of high-profile metropolitan trainers bolstered the buying bench at the auction, which is normally conducted at White Park.
The Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale has also been pushed back from a planned April date to mid-May to avoid a probable clash with the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
NZB is expected to announce on August 31 that its 2021 Karaka sale, normally held in the last week in January, will take place from April 19 in the hope that a trans-Tasman travel bubble will be implemented by the respective Australian and New Zealand governments by then to allow international buyers to attend.
“There is no disguising that the year to date has generated a huge number of challenges, but we have worked very hard as a team to help vendors achieve optimum outcomes in as many instances as possible,’’ Inglis general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing Sebastian Hutch said.
“It has been hugely rewarding to see the growth in key metrics across sales like Classic and Premier in particular and while it was disappointing to have circumstances conspire against what was on-track to be the best ever Easter Yearling Sale, our experiences this year have made us even more determined to leave no stone unturned in pursuit of the best results for our patrons.
“Each of the Highway Session at Classic, the Showcase Session at Premier, the Gold Yearling Sale and the Scone Yearling Sale posted remarkable figures under the circumstances and in the case of the latter sale, this year’s results have prompted a further expansion of it.
“Our sales offer a depth and variety of buyers that is unparalleled and this is something we work extremely hard on, right throughout the year.”
The Classic sale is scheduled for February 7 to 9, the Melbourne Premier for Feb 28 to Mar 2 and the flagship Easter auction for April 6 and 7.
The rebranded HTBA May Yearling Sale will be expanded to two days and be conducted on May 2 and 3.
The Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale will then follow at Oaklands Junction on Sunday, May 16.
“Whether attending a sale in person, working with members of our bloodstock team or bidding through our online platform – which recorded over 3600 individual bids through our yearling sales series this year – we are in a position to offer a standard of service to our buyers which is unmatched and this is something our vendors can have huge confidence in,” Hutch said.
“As a team we have demonstrated the capacity to work effectively with vendors through any number of challenges this year and it will stand us in good stead over the next 12 months and beyond.
“The very simple fact is buyers want to spend their money on horses that will help them to win the best races and Inglis offers more of those than anyone else – our sales have produced double the number of Group 1 winners of any other Australasian auction house over the past three years.’’
The most controversial part of Inglis’ announcement is likely to be the fact that the company will no longer hold the HTBA sale in Scone.
Last month, after holding the Scone sale in Sydney due to Covid-19 restrictions, Inglis managing director Mark Webster said: “It’s the first time we’ve held a Scone sale in Sydney and I think the results were really encouraging. There were buyers who don’t normally attend the Scone sale.
“They were here for the Easter sale and they found Scone yearlings in the catalogue that they wouldn’t normally have purchased and John Hawkes is the classic example of that buying the top lot for $180,000 and another couple for around $70,000.
“That is something for us to think about with the Scone sale in terms of the format and the timing and possibly even the location. We shouldn’t just carry on as normal, we should stop and think about it.”
Entries for the 2021 Inglis sales close on August 21.
Inglis 2021 sales calendar
Classic Yearling Sale (Riverside Stables) – February 7 to 9
Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale (Oaklands Junction) – February 28 to March 2
Australian Easter Yearling Sale (Riverside Stables) – April 6 and 7
HTBA May Yearling Sale (Riverside Stables) – May 2 and 3
Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale (Oaklands Junction) – May 16