Robust breeding stock market put to Covid-19 test
The offering of some of Australia’s most sought after breeding stock at today’s virtual Inglis The Chairman’s Sale could provide greater clarity about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the bloodstock and racing industry.
Featuring 11 Group 1-winning or producing mares and others in foal to the country’s most commercial stallions, the 90-lot sale is the second major auction since the Australian – and global – economy was effectively halted as world leaders attempt to stem the spread of Covid-19.
The Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, which was conducted as a virtual auction in the same format as the Chairman’s session, was down close to 15 per cent year-on-year, a figure lauded by most industry participants given the outlook in the lead-up.
Early indications are that a relatively robust market will again play out in the breeding stock sale, but Inglis managing director Mark Webster said the economic conditions made it difficult to predict with certainty.
“I think the top end of the market holds up better than the bottom end and typically it does when you’re under pressure, which is why the Easter sale held up pretty well only being down 15 per cent,” Webster told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“I certainly think if that translated across to the broodmare sales and the broodmare market being down that sort of level, then (vendors) would still be willing to trade at that level,
“If you look at the service fees they are down 15 to 20 per cent generally if you are trying to put a line through it, so that gives you an indication of where the market is.
“Heading into Easter, people were speculating that bloodstock values would halve and that certainly has not been the case.”
Last year’s Chairman’s Sale, which achieved four million-dollar lots, averaged $422,455 with 55 of the 60 mares changing hands.
The auction will start at 3pm and will lead into Sunday’s final bidding countdown for the fully online Australian Broodmare Sale of 399 lots.
“The good thing with both of these sales we’re running over this long weekend – the virtual and the digital – is that we’ve run successful auctions using both formats in the past month,” Webster said.
“Easter with the virtual format was a real winner and there will be people who will be bidding online and over the telephone based on their preference from 3pm, and the interest has been what we would have expected from buyer registrations. That’s all looking OK at this point of time.
“Will there be some value there? I think there will be.”
This year’s Chairman’s sale could also be a guide to the market’s acceptance of high-profile first season stallions Trapeze Artist (Snitzel), The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) and Justify (Scat Daddy) who all have mares in foal to them being offered.
Coolmore’s unbeaten US Triple Crown winner Justify has four mares in foal set to be offered tonight, including Bob Peters’ Celebrity Dream (Thorn Park), while Arrowfield Stud’s The Autumn Sun also has a quartet of mares catalogued, with Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Nettoyer’s (Sebring) dam Cleanup (Dehere) among them.
The launching of The Autumn Sun and Justify by two of the major Hunter Valley studs also flowed through to last year’s Chairman’s Sale with the three top lots secured by Coolmore and Arrowfield respectively.
The drama-filled and, at times, theatrical sale saw four seven-figure lots headed by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier purchasing Loving Gaby’s (I Am Invincible) dam Maastricht (Mastercraftsman) for $2.25 million and Srikandi (Dubawi) for $2 million, while Arrowfield’s Jon Freyer went to $1.7 million for Norzita (Thorn Park).
Coolmore’s high-priced mares were covered by Justify while Nortiza was served by The Autumn Sun.
Glenesk Thoroughbreds is consigning 11 mares for The Chairman’s Sale and has two of the five lots in foal to Widden Stud’s first season sire Trapeze Artist, who commanded an $88,000 (inc GST) service fee last year, while the Brett and Rachael Howard-owned operation will also offer Fine Scent (All Too Hard) in foal to Justify and two mares in foal to The Autumn Sun.
“We’ve had a really good number of inspections and people coming through our farm. We’ve had over 30 groups of people come through. I suppose you’d be disappointed when we’ve got 11 of the 84 lots in the sale, so we’ve nearly got 15 per cent of the catalogue,” Brett Howard said.
“The other thing is, we’ve got a couple older mares; a proven producer in Cleanup, the mother of Nettoyer, we’ve got three stakes-winning mares off the track in Smart Coupe, Think Bleue and Noire, and the balance are maiden mares in foal to horses like Trapeze Artist, The Autumn Sun, Justify, Pierro, Not A Single Doubt and Dundeel.
“We’ve got such a good cross-section of horses at that end of the market. If you had to throw a net out to go fishing to catch all the buyers, you’d have to think with that array of horses you’d nearly catch every buyer in the market.”
Howard said his clients were prepared to put their mares on the market with considered reserves with the view of creating competition, while agent James Harron has been inspecting mares in the past few weeks and believes vendors will be prepared to trade.
“I think there is a nice bunch of quality mares on the market and the message I’ve been getting around the farms is that people are going to be realistic and meet the market,” Harron said.
“At this level, the mares are very hard to acquire and I think … you have to (take a long-term view) in the breeding game.
“There’s a lot of people who want to upgrade their stock in line with where the market’s been (in recent years) … and these upcoming mare sales could be a good opportunity to do that.”
Meanwhile, Webster revealed Inglis had dedicated more staff and resources to the handling of buyer registrations and credit applications from domestic and international investors in recent weeks. Inglis now has close to 5,000 registered accounts.
“With our existing clients, we’ve got a very good profile on them, so I actually prefer being able to review and approve credit under this current model because for people to bid they need to go online and let us know what their intentions are more clearly,” he said.
“At a physical sale they may just turn up and start bidding without giving us any notice. For us there’s more visibility and transparency over the whole bidding process.”
Related links: The Chairman’s Sale