Two-week delay to Inglis Ready2Race Sale expected to be announced
October 26 firming as date for company’s Sydney-based two-year-old auction
Next month’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale in Sydney is set to be delayed by a fortnight in the hope of conducting the two-year-old auction once the NSW government’s proposal to relax Covid-19 restrictions has come into effect.
It is understood that Inglis has been exploring its options, including undertaking discussions with state government authorities, since Premier Gladys Berejiklian recently outlined a pandemic roadmap to exit lockdown once the population’s vaccination rate reached 70 to 80 per cent.
Latest predictions suggest NSW residents, who have been in lockdown since late June, will reach a 70 per cent double dose vaccination rate by October 9 and 80 per cent ten days later, paving the way for more freedom of movement and allowing many businesses to reopen.
Some areas of regional NSW earned a reprieve from lockdown at the weekend where there had been low or no Covid-19 positive cases.
It is likely that the change of date of the Ready2Race Sale, which is likely to be pushed back to Tuesday, October 26, will be confirmed by Inglis today.
The 185-lot sale is currently scheduled for October 12, in the week of The Everest (1200m) and in the middle of the Caulfield Cup carnival.
If the sale date is altered, as expected, it will not have any impact on the breeze-up sessions.
The Eagle Farm breeze-up session will be held tomorrow, Hawkesbury will host the NSW-prepared horses on Friday and the New Zealand breeze-ups will take place on the Cambridge Synthetic track on Monday.
The Victorian session, held at Seymour on its synthetic surface, took place last Friday.
Inglis general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing, Sebastian Hutch, would not be drawn yesterday on the probable change of date, but says it was still full steam ahead for the Ready2Race Sale.
“We felt when we put the catalogue together that there was a good mixture of exciting young horses and proven, established stallions, and the feedback we’ve had so far has been very positive on the catalogue and what happened at Seymour on Friday is only going to heighten enthusiasm for the sale,” Hutch said.
“I think the 2020 Inglis Ready2Race Sale will turn out to be the best ever Australian two-year-old sale in terms of the success of graduates. We’ve already seen Lightsaber, See You In Spring, Forgot You was an impressive winner at Moonee Valley the other day and there’s exciting horses heading towards the classic races in the spring.
“The number of three-year-old winners to emerge from the sale has been quite incredible. Mick Price had a nice Tavistock horse win at Cranbourne on Sunday (Gunstock) who came out of the sale.
“Graduates are making a strong impression in good races already and I think their record is only going to get better as the season progresses.
“We feel this catalogue is at least as strong as that one, and potentially stronger, certainly on paper, and we have cause to be really enthusiastic about the sale.”
Hutch, as his New Zealand Bloodstock counterpart Danny Rolston did last week, flagged good interest in the sale from the all-important Hong Kong buying bench.
“Statistically, graduates of this sale perform really well in Hong Kong. There’s a horse like Wishful Thinker who is a banner horse for the sale in Hong Kong but the number of winners who have come out of the sale in Hong Kong (overall) is excellent,” he said.
“The early interest from Hong Kong-based investors has been encouraging, not only through us but directly with the vendors. It is something we are conscious of when we are putting the catalogue together, that we have the progeny of stallions and the profile of horses which appeal to the Hong Kong market.
“The feedback is that it’s struck a good chord with them.”
Russian Revolution colt sets Seymour benchmark
At the Seymour breeze-up session, colts by first season sires Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and Invader (Snitzel) ran the fastest times while sons of fellow first–crop stallions Impending (Lonhro), Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock), Overshare (I Am Invincible) and Ribchester (Iffraaj) all broke 11 seconds for the 200-metre hit-outs.
Juveniles by new sires Heroic Valour (Fastnet Rock), Highland Reel (Galileo), Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) and Churchill (Galileo) also ran good times in breaking the 11-second mark at Seymour.
The fastest breeze of the morning was produced by Valiant Stud’s Russian Revolution colt, a $120,000 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale purchase for Upper Bloodstock from Longwood Thoroughbred Farm, who ran 10.22 seconds.
Valiant’s Fergal Connolly described the Lot 167-catalogued colt, who is out of a half-sister to Singapore stakes winner Spanish Bay (Nadeem) in Fiery Jest (Testa Rossa), as “an utter professional’’.
“In absolutely everything he does, he’s just so mature and professional. He has a lot of precocity and looks an early-running type,’’ Connolly said.
“I obviously wasn’t there at Seymour due to the borders etc but Mitch Aitken rode him and he was really impressed with his time and his action. He’s a serious colt that we’ve got a lot of time for.’’
The second-fastest breeze was from Lot 136, an Invader colt out of Carlton Show (Hold That Tiger) who has been educated and will be consigned by Moffatt Breaking and Pre Training.
He stopped the clock at 10.37 seconds and was one of five two-year-olds to breeze at the session for Peter Moffatt.
“The day was perfect overall really, all of ours went really well and we couldn’t be much happier five or six weeks out from the sale,’’ Moffatt said.
“The Invader, we bought him in Melbourne (for $30,000), got him home, broke him in and he was an exceptional horse to break in, he had a really good attitude and is one of those horses who is just really enjoyable to be around.
“You never get your hopes up too much but he was certainly impressive in the breeze. The whole way along, he’s been a pleasure to deal with, easy to ride, has a great constitution and I’ve always liked the way he travels across the ground, so bring on the sale.’’
Vision of the Seymour breeze-ups are online here. https://inglis.com.au/sales/info/2021+Ready2Race+Sale/index/1-185
Seymour breeze-up times
https://inglis.com.au/sales/info/2021+Ready2Race+Sale/index/1-185