‘I think it’ll be a fun night’ – catalogue released for next month’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale
Inglis have released the catalogue for the 2025 Chairman’s Sale and the auction house has assembled a mouthwatering line-up of 87 mares, headlined by Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai), Too Darn Lizzie (Too Darn Hot), I Am Me (I Am Invincible), and Estriella (I Am Invincible), who will go under the hammer in Sydney on May 8.
Alongside revealing the catalogue for their Chairman’s sale, Inglis have also released the book for the Australian Broodmare Sale, which takes place the following day, May 9.
A sale that is accustomed to producing fireworks, this year’s edition of The Chairman’s Sale looks packed full of quality and talent once again.
Joining the aforementioned quartet are top-flight winners like Royal Merchant (Merchant Navy) and Coco Sun (The Autumn Sun), and Group winners such as Tiz Invincible (I Am Invincible), Grinzinger Belle (Shamexpress), Semana (Winning Rupert), Mumbai Muse (Zoustar), Hell Hath No Fury (Hellbent), Sirileo Miss (Pride Of Dubai), She Dances (Street Boss), Eagle Nest (Shalaa), Lekvarte (Reliable Man), Honey Girl (Mayson), Vagrant (Pariah), Caste (Sir Prancealot), and Wishlor Lass (Mshawish).
Also on display are the dams of elite-level winners such as Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) scorers Golden Mile (Astern) and Griff (O’Reilly) as well as the Goodwood Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Benedetta (Hellbent), star filly Too Darn Lizzie and the Group-race-winning juvenile Field Of Play (Deep Field) among others.
Asked if this year’s catalogue was the best Inglis have yet to produce in the Chairman’s Sale, Inglis CEO Sebastian Hutch told ANZ Bloodstock News: “I’d say it is. This sale catalogue feels more so than in previous years and that’s the objective of where we want to put ourselves and it’ll be a celebration of the best racemares and the best broodmares in the country.”
Hutch feels the fact that so many top-class fillies and mares are lining up in this year’s catalogue is a huge nod to the Inglis team and their year-round efforts.
“It’s a great opportunity for these people, and therefore we see it as a great compliment to our company. Our sale has so many people with what we see, and what we think the market will recognise, as top-class mares have chosen the Chairman’s Sale of 2025.
“Selling these mares has been the subject of conversations with connections for 18, 24, 30 months. It’s a drawn-out process and we come up with what we feel is the optimum sale solution for them.
“We feel we have a catalogue that is going to engage a very broad section of buyers.”
Despite being confident of bringing in a diverse buying bench, Hutch isn’t expecting any records to be broken during the May sale.
“Obviously people are pretty particular about what they want at these sales and I suppose that’s the challenge of putting together a catalogue like this,” he said.
“It’s our job to identify what will end up in the eye-lines of potential buyers on the night and I feel like we’ve got a hugely appealing group of mares in terms of their profiles, this is the most number of race fillies and mares that we’ve had for the sale by some margin.
“In recent years each of the two most recent colts to win the Golden Slipper, Shinzo and Stay Inside, have been sold in utero at the Chairman’s Sale, while buyers have found the dams of superstars like Imperatriz, Home Affairs, In Italian, She’s Extreme, Shout The Bar and many others and there is little doubt that this year’s catalogue will be a source of further top-class winners in the future.
“We’ve probably tightened up on the volume of pregnancies in the sale in comparison to where we’ve been in past years and we’ve had a real focus on mares that we feel are going to meet the demands of the marketplace and hopefully we’re vindicated on the night of the sale.”
This year’s headline act of the sale is undoubtedly the Ciaron Maher-trained mare Bella Nipotina, the most recent winner of the $20 million Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) and a horse that has provided connections with the thrill of a lifetime during a 57-start career.
“She’s one of the greatest mares that has been in this country and all of the connections in this mare are people we have experience with and it’ll be fun to toast her success on the night,” Hutch said.
“But then again, no less so than mares like I Am Me, she’s a special one to have in the sale and we’ve followed her career right from when she got beaten in a maiden at Goulburn on her first start as a three-year-old and now she’s one of the most accomplished sprinters in the country.
“It’s really fantastic to have mares of that quality in the sale, ones that you know are going to appeal to the market and that are presented by a series of excellent vendors. I think it’ll be a fun night!”
Despite the catalogue being released, supplementary entries for the Chairman’s Sale will remain open until 5pm on Thursday, April 24.
“We will be accepting supplementary entries for the next month so if you want to be involved in the sale, I encourage you to get in touch with a member of the bloodstock team as soon as possible and join what will be a memorable night both in and out of the sale ring,” Hutch added.
To submit a supplementary entry, contact a member of the Inglis bloodstock team or click here. The catalogue for the sale can also be viewed here.