Tassort colt stars in tough Melbourne Gold market
An $80,000 Tassort (Brazen Beau) colt topped Sunday’s Inglis Melbourne Gold Sale, but the lack of sustained demand for stock at that end of the market has called into question the long-term viability of Victoria’s secondary annual yearling auction.
Inglis compiled a catalogue of just 107 yearlings, reduced to 83 after withdrawals, and a long way from the sale’s halcyon days which had a peak of more than 400 lots prior to the pandemic.
Last year’s sale had a catalogue of 191 yearlings in a May timeslot and 232 the previous year.
Blue Gum Farm sold the sale-topper on behalf of Braebrook Thoroughbreds’ Max Porlezza. By the same sire as ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Manaal, he is the third foal out of the Sydney-winning mare Viascon (Denman).
“It was more than we were ever expecting, I really can’t believe how well he’s sold, it’s fantastic,’’ Porlezza said.
“We thought he was a nice colt and I’ve always thought you want to have the nicer colts in those kind of sales where he was going to stand out and while you never know how much they’re going to stand out, it was just a great result, more than we ever expected.’’
The yearling was bought by Trilogy Racing, the racing arm of Blue Gum Farm owners Jason and Mel Stenning and Sean and Cathy Dingwall.
“Jason [Stenning] was keen to buy a two-year-old type and this colt is certainly that, he’ll go to the breakers basically immediately and get into the system and hopefully be up and running early,’’ Sean Dingwall said.
“The stallion is really doing the job, they lucked on the right leg with Manaal winning the Sires a fortnight ago and, having a fee increase to be announced this week, it just made sense.’’
Sunday’s sale generated $1,203,250 in turnover with 60 horses changing hands at an average of $20,054 and a median of $15,000, the latter two metrics both up year-on-year.
However, the aggregate was the lowest in the Gold sale’s history.
“Certainly, the work our team did in advance of the sale showed that there were still people in the market for stock, admittedly at a particular level and looking for value or a bargain, but there were still people willing to participate in the market,” Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“There were people there who vendors could sell their horses to, but I think the sale ultimately, and at other sales throughout the year, is a reflection of supply and demand.
“Horses at this [Melbourne Gold] level it would appear from a commercial point of view that supply is exceeding demand and it makes it more challenging for vendors.”
Asked specifically about the long-term future of the Gold sale, Hutch said: “We put the sale on as a service to vendors to give vendors an outlet for their horses. The reality is, it’ll be something that we review as we make our plans for next year and the viability of this sale is something we’ll have to assess.”
The Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale, which was held in Scone until the onset of Covid in 2020, has a catalogue of 224 yearlings to go under the hammer in Sydney next Sunday.